Biggest Mistake
by Honey1005
Summary: Just altered the title. S9, AU from Sacrifice. An important discovery makes Chloe think that there is only one way to keep her secret. To run. As time passes she realizes she can't escape her demons.M for language and scenes in later chapters for safety!
1. Bright Eyes

Title: Nothern Lights

Author: Honey 1005

Summary: Takes place after the events of checkmate.

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent

Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones (in future chapters)

Rating: M

Genre: Romance

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

Hello everybody! Well, this is my first fanfiction in English. Please forgive me, if I make somevmistakes concerning spelling or grammar, but I'm not a native speaker. Due to the fact that there still hasn't been more than a glimpse of the ninth season of Smallville in my country, I prefer to stick with the storyline I know so far. So that story doesn't reflect canon Chlollie...

This story is a songfiction, every chapter has the title of a song and an excerpt in the beginning. I don't own those songs nor their lyrics!

Feel frew to review, I won't be offended by criticism! In fact, that's the only way to improve, right? :)

Have fun!

* * *

_**Chapter 1 or Bright Eyes**_

_"Bright eyes,_  
_Burning like fire._  
_Bright eyes" _Simon and Garfunkel – Bright Eyes

Unfortunately there was no storm, which would be exactly suiting Chloe's mood, only her emotions were in sheer agitation. There was bright sunlight coming through the window of her apartment, instead.

She was nervously rustling with the unremarkable brown paper bag of the drug store in her hand. There was no use crying over spilt milk. No matter what the outcome would be, either way she had to take the test sooner or later. Again she wished that she wouldn't be so emotional.

Five endless minutes later she stared at the little white stick of plastic in her hand and waited for fate to strike. Then, slowly, but quite clearly, a pink symbol became visible behind the small screen.

It was a plus sign.

A few weeks before, after Oliver and later herself have been kidnapped by Checkmate agents, Chloe was overjoyed to be with him again. Then he confessed to her that he was really scared that he wouldn't get her back unharmed, which led them right to his loft. They spent the night with many glasses of good wine and even more sex. The relief made them careless and they forgot to use a condom. Usually, Chloe was on the pill, but because of the stressing events she didn't think about it one time and not until after that night she began to retake it.

Then Oliver was severely injured during a confrontation with Zod and as a consequence he was in coma for days. Chloe sat at his side the whole time, waiting for him to wake up.

* * *

A few days earlier, at Metropolis General Hospital:

The monitor, which kept respiration and heart beat under surveillance, was beeping with annoying regularity.

Chloe sat on a chair next to Oliver's bed and hoped that something would happen. The doctors had treated his burnt skin and the other bruised parts of his body and were positive that there wouldn't be any permanent damage, but they couldn't explain why he hasn't woken up yet. Chloe spent every hour in the little room and wasn't really able to sleep. Her face looked hollow and pale. The wall colour didn't help it either, as it looked like creamed pea soup.

More than four days had passed and even Clark couldn't convince Chloe to leave the hospital. He tried though, every day when he stopped by. Lois didn't even try. She packed a bag for her cousin with clothes to change, a few cosmetics and a toothbrush and took them to the hospital. After the first 24 hours had passed, she brought a pillow too and called or visited daily to see if there was something new.

As time went on, Chloe's strength faded. Nevertheless she hoped that her face looked at least somehow positive, when a nurse came in to check on the vitals.

The nurse looked down at the young tired woman by her side. She felt pitiful. _"Ya need anything, darlin'? Maybe some tea?"_ she asked as she patted the girls shoulder.

Chloe shook her head. _"No, thank you very much. I had loads of coffee over the last hours!" _The six paper cups on the bedside table proved it. While the nurse left, she stood up to throw the cups away. She stretched her tired muscles. She had been sitting for such a long time in a row that she wasn't feeling her behind anymore. Instead, exhaustion spread through her body. So she returned to the bed and bent down to Oliver's face. Then she stroke back a streak of hair from his forehead and placed some slight kisses on his lips and a scratch right above his eyebrow.

Why had her powers have faded? She hadn't been able to save Jimmy, she couldn't lose Ollie too.

"_Please, Ollie, wake up!"_ she begged. Like an encouragement, she caressed his arm, which was lying on the white sheet. Then her head slowly sank forward and found its place on Oliver's stomach. A tear ran down her cheek and left a grey mascara stain on the fabric of the sheet.

"_Dare you, when you won't run around in your tights again soon"_, she threatened him with a soft voice, but then she lost the battle against the sleep and doze off right on him.

Soon she was dreaming that Zod had closed in on the hospital and was on his way to Oliver and her.

With one swift bash, he wiped Chloe out of the way. Then he closed his hands around defenseless Oliver's neck and strangled him.

She yanked out of her nightmare with a loud outcry. For one moment she felt petrified as a pair of hazel eyes met her green ones.

Bemused Oliver furrowed one eyebrow and reached out for her little hand. The veil of confusion was lifted from her face and she began to smile.

"_Ollie..."_ she just said and let herself be pulled into his embrace. He cradled her and laid a soft kiss on her forehead. _"Shh... that must've been a very bad dream, huh? Don't worry, I'm right here with you."_ For a short moment she enjoyed his scent, but then she freed herself. "_Wait a minute, I've to call a doctor to check on you!"_ He took her hand once again. "_A nurse and a doctor have been already here. I'm going to be discharged." _Chloe was confused. _"How?...When?"_

"_This evening." "I didn't mean that. When did they come here?"_

"_They arrived just after I woke up. You slept like a log, sidekick!" _He smirked. Chloe gave him an indignant look. _"Why didn't you wake me? I could have..." "I think that you had fallen asleep one moment before. I even still heard your comment."_ He paused. _"I don't know how often I should say that: They are no tights!" _he complained. _"But I already have something in mind, how you could make that insulting remark up to me tonight." _Chloe laughed out loud. If Oliver was able to joke, he couldn't be in a condition that bad. Him thinking about sex in the very night was also a good sign.

Sex. Suddenly a shocking thought entered her mind. She counted the days.

Oh God! She was past due. And not only for some days. How could she have missed that? Chloe panted for air and the creamy walls of the room seemed to come closer. In that moment Clark entered the room with super-speed and appeared right next to her out of nowhere. Both men obviously noticed the look on her face. Chloe felt trapped. _"I'll never get used to that"_ she complained in the direction of Clark and then added. _" I've to wash my face, I sure look horrible. I'll be back in a minute!"_ Phew, save!

In the bathroom she regarded her reddened face and asked herself how the hell this could have happened. Until now it was only a suspicion_. "It could have been caused by the lots of stress in the last time too. I wouldn't be surprised!"_ she tried to calm herself down. A little later she sprinkled some cool water on her face and took a deep breath. After one last look in her own worried eyes, she made her way back to her friends and walked down the corridor. _"But still, more than three weeks?" _the little voice in her head kept taunting. But the time to think about that was over for now, because Clark seemingly waited for her outside Oliver's room. He wore his typical red jacket and a serious look on his face. Chloe threw a checking look through the glass, only to see a white curtain pulled around the bed. Her best friend noticed her sorrow and patted her shoulder. _"Don't worry, everything's okay. They're just checking on him one last time, so you can take him home."_

Chloe nodded. "_It's about time to talk about the Kandorians, Clark! Zod could've killed Ollie! We can't just sit around and wait!" _Clark wanted to answer, but she cut him off. _"And- oh right – there's still Checkmate, who wants to find and recruit us, no matter what it takes! Should we bet who gets us first, or what?"_ She was running up and down hastily, gesturing wildly. Her cheeks were glowing in excitement. Clark pointed at a monitor right behind her in the corridor. The news were on. They showed "the Castle", the headquarters of Checkmate. It was aflame.

"_I think both sides have more urgent things to care about at the moment."_

Chloe first stared at the screen, but then shook her head. _"We really need to take precautions, because those lunatics are on the verge of world war three."_

A few hours later darkness was falling and a blue Toyota Yaris wiggled its way through the urban canyons of Metropolis. Chloe was taking Oliver back to his apartment in the Queen Tower and was somehow lost in her thoughts. In her mind she was already skipping through an online list of drug stores to find one, which wasn't highly frequented.

"_Baby, you missed the branch-off!"_ Chloe was so shocked about Oliver's comment that she nearly drove on the pavement. The car came to a sudden halt. _"Whoa, Chloe! Watch out! Please tell me what's wrong, before you kill us!" _Chloe rested her head on the steering-wheel and took a deep breath. "_Since Clark showed up in the hospital, you're acting a little bit weird. Is there something you want to tell me?" _When her head came up again, she was in control. _"I'm sorry. It's just that I'm so stressed out in the last time, all the things that happened... To feel like a catastrophe could come up any second, that's a lot to take."_ Oliver looked worried. _"I know what you mean. Two enemies at one time are hard to take." _He took her hand and kissed it. _"You know what? We're going on a trip, when this is over. And this time there won't be any Lois and Clark or even Bart, who show up uninvited, because we take the jet somewhere far away. Sound good?" _He had no idea, what was really going on, but Chloe chose to give him a fake smile. _"Great! Until then I've something to look forward to!"_ It had the foreseen effect on him. Oliver smirked. He bent his head to brush his lips against hers. _"Um..., maybe I can give you something else to make you happy!"_ he said leeringly.

Chloe was relieved he didn't suspect anything. _"Keep that in mind, Archer!"_ She started the engine and they drove off.

* * *

It was positive. Oh, god! She was pregnant. With Oliver's baby. For a moment she couldn't move. She was in shock. What should she do now? Ollie and she were only involved in this no string kind of thing and now he got her pregnant. They weren't in a serious relationship. It was more for the fun they had together. He wouldn't want a baby. With her. At this point of his life. She didn't even know if he ever planned on becoming a father.

And what about herself? Did she want a baby? With a man, who didn't love her? When an alien terror group threatened to destroy the world and she was hunted by government agents? Not really.

Chloe rubbed her temples with her fingers. She wasn't able to think properly. Coffee would help. So she stepped down to the first floor to pour some espresso for a café latte. That would help her to cool down. After foaming some milk, she took a little sip and sighed with relief. The next moment she remembered that she wasn't allowed to drink coffee, at least nothing that contained caffeine! At the sink she spit it out and emptied her cup. Remorsefully she watched it disappearing down the drain.

Chloe returned to her room upstairs. She sat down on her bed and tried to run through several scenarios, but none seemed practicable. It was impossible to tell Ollie, Clark or even Lois. They would literally freak out. She had to figure out something on her own. If she would choose to keep the baby. If?

Deep down in her heart she suddenly knew that she would never give it up. Chloe felt a sudden rush of love for the baby growing inside her. In the end it was Ollie's. And though she was afraid of the consequences, she chose to keep the baby.

Absently Chloe stroked her still flat belly and imagined what she would look like in a few months.

And then it came to her. She could never raise her child here safely. Even with the support of Clark and the Justice League it would be impossible to make sure that nobody could harm the baby. About Oliver, she didn't even want to think. He would feel betrayed and maybe even accuse her of tricking him. Either way Chloe had no intention to put all her friends at risk even for the sake of her unborn child. The Justice League, Clark and even Lois could be easily blackmailed with her safety by the Kandorians or Checkmate. An idea manifested in her mind. She would only have to work on the details.

There was only one solution. It was a done deal.

She had to disappear.

* * *

What do you think? Good or bad?

Please leave a review

best wishes Honey


	2. Don't wanna think about you

Title: Nothern Lights

Author: Honey 1005

Summary: Takes place after the events of checkmate.

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent

Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones (in future chapters)

Rating: M

Genre: Romance

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

Hey! thank you very much for your comments! I'm sorry I didn't have the time to update any sooner, and somehow I struggled with the end of the chapter! Please keep reviewing! If you have any questions, just ask!

Have fun!

* * *

_**Chapter 2 or Don't wanna think about you**_

_"Run away, run away, running as fast as I can_  
_Run away, run away, I'll never come back again_  
_Run away, run away._  
_I don't wanna think about you_  
_or think about me_  
_don't wanna figure this out_  
_I don't wanna think about you_  
_or think about me."_ Simple Plan – Don't wanna think about you

Chloe dreamed of an attractive young man with short tousled blond hair and hazel eyes, who was caressing her gently through her nightshirt. He slowly pushed it upwards, past her hips.

She pressed himself against his strong hands and sighed softly.

The tickle of a kiss just above her navel sent shivers all over her body. Red heat spread through her blood circle and Chloe let herself fall into the rush of need that was pooling deep inside her. But all of a sudden she felt a sharp ache in between her legs and woke up immediately.

As her sight cleared up, Chloe looked straight into Oliver's eyes. He was lying on top of her, one hand on her left breast. Seemingly he had just entered her and smirked down at her unbelieving face.

"_What the hell do you think you're doing here?"_ she yelled at him and pushed him away harshly. The smile on his face vanished and confusion appeared on it instead. _"Wakin' you up in a nice way, before I have to leave town, sidekick!"_ he answered a bit puzzled. _"Not the first time, remember?" _

Sometimes he had tenderly seduced her, while she was still asleep, but back then her body hasn't been this sensitive and felt all sore because of her pregnancy. The pregnancy he didn't know about, she reminded herself. Chloe was angry with herself, but she turned it out on him.

"_Yeah right! But those times it hadn't feel like rape, you idiot!"_

"_Um… I thought we were friends with certain benefits, so which advantage do I get, when you're in my bed and I can't have sex with you, sweetheart?"_

Oh he went down cynical road.

"_We had sex twice last night!"_ Chloe pointed out irritated. She had moved as far away from him as possible and held the sheet up to hide her bare chest. Ollie scratched his chin. Normally she adored having sex with him. _"Right. Didn't seem all satisfying last night, don't you think? You were a bit tense. I just wanted to give it another try."_

Chloe was getting angry because of this conversation and shook her head in disbelief. _"Leave it! I'm not in the mood for it." _

"_Come on, sidekick! I have some really good stuff in mind!"_ he tried to convince her. As he reached out for her hand, she pulled away and stood up.

Then she collected her clothes from a chair next to the window. While she put them on, he watched her, wearing a grim look on his face. _"What's wrong with you, now? I thought this is the reason, why we are in this together!"_ He teased her, because he was getting angry too. But this time Chloe shot back hard. _"Oliver, I've had enough! Of this conversation, of being called sidekick, of you!"_ , she snapped, while she pulled up her jeans. Oliver's eyes darkened in anger. _"Good to know, sidekick! Maybe we should look for someone else then!"_ He offered cynically.

Chloe nodded._"If you need sex, I'm sure some of your former boy toys are available."_

She had put on her blouse and stepped into her shoes. _"But if you really need to get it off , before you return to Star City, you should knock on Miss Mercer's door. Maybe she'll let you in this time!" _She turned and headed for the elevator.

Oliver shouted after her that if she would go now, she couldn't come back in his bed, when she regretted her decision. _"Have fun, archer!"_ Her voice was cold as ice. The doors closed and she was gone. Just like that.

Oliver didn't get, what had just happened. What was wrong with Chloe? They have never had an argument about what happened in his bedroom, but today she was so cranky that he snapped and freaked out too. She didn't even have her essential daily dose of coffee. Usually she couldn't live without it. Maybe that was part of the problem.

Oliver went to the bathroom and stepped into the shower.

He turned on the cold water to calm down a little bit. But still, he was so angry that he couldn't think straight.

The black tiles cracked, as he hit the wall with his fist. The edges cut into his knuckles and blood ran down on his forearm. The pain that rushed through his body gave him a little bit of clearness. He continued showering until his anger was cooling off and his body felt like it was freezing.

While he treated the cuts on his hand he thought about the things Chloe said to him earlier. That she has had enough.

She was one of his dearest friends, he would never mean to hurt her,. Okay that was a lie. He had hurt her on purpose in the past, but not today. That has been their first real argument about their non- relationship since the stupid spoon incident and both of them haven't played fair. Oliver already regretted the things he had said to her and he was positive that Chloe would see it the same way, after she would have cooled down. But only god knew how long that would take.

Oliver reached for his cell and ordered some flowers for her. He dictated an apologizing text and gave the address of her Smallville apartment above the Talon. But a little annoying voice in the back of his head kept telling him that a simple apology and flowers wouldn't help him this time.

Too bad he had to leave for Star City, but he had some important business meetings nobody else could take care of. Oliver reached for his mobile, opened the organizer and checked his appointments. He sighed. He wouldn't be back until about a week and he swore to himself that he would straighten things out with Chloe somehow. One thing was sure, it couldn't go on like that.

* * *

Chloe drove home to Smallville way too fast. On Main Street she nearly caused an accident, because she was so out of her mind.

Seeing other people. She laughed out bitterly. Oliver had no idea there would only be other people for them in the future.

The little Yaris came to a sudden halt next to the Talon with screeching tires. Chloe stepped through the door of the coffee shop and let out an angry growl. Some of the early customers turned their heads and watched her as she crossed the room witch short angry paces and went up to her apartment. She closed the door behind her and slowly sank down on a chair.

It didn't go the way it was planned. Their last encounter should have been easygoing and enjoyable. That stupid argument had ruined their last time together, because she got swept away by her overflowing emotions. Oh yeah, this pregnancy was going really well until now. She couldn't wait for the things to come. It made her crazy that he saw her as a medium to release his sexual pressure and nothing more. For her he was more. At least he fathered the child, which was growing inside her.

A moment later her thoughts were ruggedly interrupted. Lois stormed into the room with a huge bouquet of flowers in one hand.

In the other one she had a little white card and waved it up and down in front of her cousin's face. Chloe made a little shrieking sound out of surprise.

"_What? Are? You? Doing?"_ she asked with a dangerous slow voice.

Lois didn't seem to care. She let the flowers fall down on Chloe's lap.

"_Here. From your non-boyfriend. What did he do this time? Buy you a fork?"_She giggled.

Chloe tried to snatch the card out of Lois hand, but Lois held it up higher and so she only caught thin air.

"_Look Lois, this is none of your business! Really! I'm not in the mood for jokes. Now give me that damn card."_ She paused and took a deep breath. _"You know what? Just keep it. It doesn't matter anyway."_

Lois mouth dropped open and for just one moment she stood there in silence.

Then she sat down next to Chloe.

_"That bad, huh? I should have thought so, because this apology was really too much considering it came from Oliver."_

She read it out loud and watched the expression on Chloe's face carefully.

**"_Chloe,_**

**_I'm sorry about the things I said to you earlier._**

**_You know it came out the wrong way and I didn't mean to hurt you._**

**_I'm gone for one week, but I would be glad to meet _****_you_****_ when I'm back. We really have to talk. _**

**_Ollie"_**

"_So what did that idiot do to you? Is there someone else? Oh boy, I'm so gonna make him cry if he cheated on you!"_

Chloe frowned and cleared her throat.

"_First of all, we weren't together in the first place. So technically, he can't even cheat on me!"_

"_Hey, what? You weren't together? Did he dump you?" _

"_No. Actually the other way round…"_

Lois eyebrows shot up in shock and nearly disappeared under her bangs.

"_You dumped Oliver Queen! Why?"_

Chloe made up an excusion. "_Well, we just had to realize that it wouldn't work out! It's not that bad. This way we can stay friends…"_

"_Uh uh… Seems to me that someone else isn't thinking that way…! So why did you end it? Did he… uhm … spend too much time with his business?"_

Chloe was tempted to grin. Lois tried to find out if she dumped him, because she found out about Green Arrow's real identity. It was so obvious.

Once again she opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off by the tune of Lois' cellphone. _"Hello? Clark? Oh, yes! I'll be down in a second!" _

"_Oh, crap! Chloe, I'm sorry! I have to go! The Planet is sending Clark and me to Darfur to do a report about a human rights organization there. The taxi is already waiting to take us to the airport!"_

Chloe didn't even have time to say anything. Lois ran back to her room and returned with a trolley and her passport.

"_We come back in about 10 days, I don't know if I can reach you from Sudan… Just promise me to think about your decision, maybe you two can work it out!"_ Then she pressed a hasty kiss on Chloe's cheek and with one last _"Love you, cuz!"_ she was out of the door.

For one time she could have used the advice of her elder cousin, but Lois was jet setting all over the planet. Maybe that was just jealousy speaking. Her own career in journalism had gone terribly wrong and now she was spending her time with hacking into government documents and playing the den mother for her bunch of superheroes.

Lois, Clark and Ollie were all out of town for at least a week.

Maybe it was better that way, though. A good solution. That should give her enough time to manage her stuff and get away.

Chloe opened her laptop and went online. Bart , AC and Victor were waiting for instructions, while Dinah was in London to examine a member of the House of Lords. Professor Elijah Stratham did some legendary work on the subjects of genetic mutation and might be an associate of Checkmate.

At this point Chloe certainly needed a target for the boys to lure them out of the country. Overseas would be even better. At least because of Bart or else he could by next to her in a glimpse.

She pulled out her cell and dialed AC's number. Then she tried to reach Bart and Victor for a Video conference. Vic and Bart appeared on her screen and asked for instructions.

"_Hey Chloe! What can I do for you? Any mission coming up?"_ AC's voice was muffled by a sound that could be waves.

"_Yeah, kind of! Where are you right now? I can't hear you properly."_

"_Sorry! Canyoning at Yosemite National Park… Hold on a moment… Okay… here I am. Do you hear me now?"_

"_A lot better, thanks! Bart and Vic are online. There would be a mission in Asia. Nothing big! You guys just have to take a closer look on some people and there also might be a suspicious construction site in Mongolia that you could check for me…"_

"_Isn't Ollie out of town? Shouldn't we wait for him to join us?"_ Victor asked cautiously.

"_Man! We don't need him for every little thing we're doing. We can be independent, right 'Licious?"_ Bart piped in loudly.

Chloe couldn't resist chuckling. _"Look! If you want to wait for Oliver it's fine, I just thought you can take care of that until he comes back and then you can already start a new mission."_

"_I'm with Bart here. Let's take care of this alone. Ollie has to take care of the company. We're doing him a favor!"_ AC stated.

Yep, Chloe had known that she could count on Bart's pride and AC's tendency to take some weight off of Oliver's shoulders, when she made up her plan.

Bart and Victor nodded quietly.

"_Alright! Vic I already sent you the plans for the locations. The jet is fueled up and waits for you at the airport of Star City. Oliver got a text message. He gave his okay."_

"_You guiding us through this, Chloe?"_ Bart asked hopefully.

"_I have something else to take care of. Some research on our alien friends. Victor can take care of any security system, so I won't have to use the satellite. You can reach me if there is an emergency._

_Take care, boys!"_

"_Understood! Cyborg out!"_

"_See ya soon Licious! Impulse out!"_

"_AC? Everything clear?"_

"_Sure! I'll contact you when we are up in the air! Take care, Chloe!" _

"_Bye!"_

Chloe leaned back in her chair for some moments. They would be hurt when they found out that she set them up. Especially Bart would be heartbroken.

Now she had to take care of her personal stuff. She had to leave behind most of her belongings.

God knows, where the team might have hidden a transmitter to locate her. She put her watch and all her jewelry in a cardboard box. Prudence is the better part of valor.

The next hours she skimmed through her clothes . The few she selected she put in one of Lois' suitcases. Most of them were for all intents and purposes. In a few months she would have to buy maternity wear anyways. She took two pairs of each, heels and sneakers.

The rest of her garments would stay in her closet. Her documents for the new identity were already waiting in a safe deposit box at the train station of Wichita.

She had chosen her new home town a few days ago and already had the address of a Lodge there.

Chloe didn't sleep well that night. Around seven in the morning Clark called. He sounded very concerned and Chloe was relieved that he was on another continent at the moment.

"_Chloe, how are you?"_

"_Lois told you!"_

"_You know she isn't that good with secrets… And she is worried about you and Oliver!"_

"_There is no need to be worried Clark! I'm fine!"_

"_You sure? I can talk to him if you want me to?"_

"_Clark, stop it! Of all people you should know best that the hero stuff gets in the way sooner or later!" _Another lie. Oh my, Ollie would kill her if he ever found her.

"_I know I didn't have much time for you over the last months… I'm sorry!"_

"_This isn't your fault! So… how's Darfur? Is this going to be your big break, Clark Kent?"_

"_You can't imagine how people suffer here. There is a lack of simply anything! And some people are taking the risk of getting killed in the riots to help the poor ones!"_

"_No need for superpowers to be a hero, Clark! But I know what you mean! It's comforting to know that there still are good persons out there, right?"_

"_How do you do that? You don't even see my face and still you totally get me!"_

"_Oh, Clark! Don't get all cheesy on me or I'll start crying!"_ She made it sound ironic, but in reality Chloe felt tears coming up. Damn hormones!

"_We should do something together, when I come back, okay?"_

"_Sure! But we should stop here, or the bill will give me a heart attack!"_

"_Sorry! Take care, Chloe! I'll see you soon!"_

"_Bye Clark!"_

_

* * *

_

Two days later Chloe sold her Yaris to a local car dealer far below value. She packed a bag with some of her favorite books including the birthday present from Clark. The spoon from the Mac Dougal Inn was at the bottom of the bag. Something had prevented Chloe from leaving it behind. It wasn't likely, but Chloe had checked with a signal receiver to make sure it wasn't manipulated.

Even with the sheer volume of Oliver's financial resources the team wouldn't be able to find her.

She had taken care of all the traces. The door closed with a small thud behind her, as she left the building.

* * *

Three days later some people have been trying to get a hold of Oliver Queen. But he had been in meetings all day. As he came home to Queen Tower in the evening and only wanted to relax with a drink and maybe a film, his phone was beeping with messages.

Apparently it had been urgent. Five missed calls from AC. TWELVE in total. His hope was proven to be absurd. None of them was from Chloe. Instead nearly the whole team had called. Maybe an emergency? Nervously Oliver combed with one hand through his hair and hastily dialed with the other one.

AC, Bart and Victor didn't pick up. He tried Dinah next.

"_Arrow, it's about time!"_

"_What's going on? Did something happen to the guys? Where the hell are they?"_

"_They're just fine! Heading back from a mission on the jet. You can reach them via satellite!"_

"_So what's that all about? You know I've been busy!"_

"_We can't reach Watchtower!"_

"_What?"_ He said it a little bit too loud and too fast. She was angry with him and now she turned it out on the team. Anger flooded him. He might have been an idiot, but this wasn't an excuse to neglect her duties to the team.

"_Did you try all different numbers?"_ He tried to sound bored.

"_No, we are just heading back to the States over some continents for fun! Of course, we did!"_

Oliver had to put some distance between the phone and his ear, because Dinah's voice was getting screechy and nearly heading to ultrasonic.

"_Stop it, Canary! You're blasting my eardrums! Cool down and tell me from the beginning! With normal voice please, or I'll call Cyborg!" _

"_Okay! You know, I was on mission in the UK to shadow that member of parliament, right?_

_Aquaman, Cyborg and Impulse were examining a facility in Mongolia and also followed some hints in Beijing. Their mission was scheduled to take a week, but they were through with it a few hours ago. So when they tried to call Watchtower to tell her they're coming home…"_

"_Hold on! They were on a mission without me?"_

"_You didn't know about it?"_

"_Apparently not! Never mind! Continue…"_ He gestured impatiently with his hand, though he knew Dinah couldn't see him.

"_She didn't pick up her mobile and Cyborg couldn't reach her via satellite in Watchtower either!"_

"_Maybe Watchtower just isn't in the mood to talk?"_ Oliver joked weakly.

"_Tower told the others she had to do some research on her own. Watchtower doesn't do research without the net…"_

"_Ergo?"_

"_Why isn't there a sign that she was online for the last days? Even if she did something else, Watchtower would have responded to one of Impulse's calls. She wouldn't let him go insane for nothing."_

"_I still don't think that this is a reason to be this worried. Watchtower probably needed a break from the hero business for a few days." _And from him too. _"You didn't call Boy Scout, did you?"_

"_Not yet. We wanted to call you first."_

"_Good. Let's keep it that way! When will you be back at Metropolis?"_

"_Not before tomorrow afternoon. My flight has been delayed because of poor visibilty. Always foggy in the UK..."_ Dinah sounded annoyed.

"_And the guys?"_

"_They started two hours ago from Beijing with the jet! You can do the math, but you will see that you are the one to get there the fastest!"_

"_I don't have the jet, maybe I should wait for the guys…"_

"_What's wrong with you Arrow? Charter a plane, for god's sake, it's not like you haven't the money!"_

Oliver could hear that Dinah was getting suspicious about his reaction, so he had to give in, if he didn't want to come clean about his "special connection" with Chloe.

"_I'll do it. Give me some hours and I'll be there. I'll check the Tower and the apartment, okay?"_

"_Good. Tell us when you find out what happened, okay?"_

"_Sure."_

Oliver ended the conversation without a word of goodbye. He took a short shower for refreshment and called his driver to take him to the airport.

No, he was certainly not in the mood to drive by himself. If Chloe was just sitting lazily on the couch and this was much ado about nothing he would have to spank her. Even if he had always imagined that in a much more positive context.

He tried to call Chloe and left a message on her voice mailbox. _"I know, you are offended, but this is not funny! The team is worried!So call!"_

It had definitely some advantages to be rich sometimes. The plane was chartered in less than twenty minutes and they had immediate clearance for takeoff.

Though Oliver was really upset with Chloe at the moment, he doze off soon and kept on sleeping until the steward woke him because they were landing in Metropolis.

* * *

Watchtower was empty. Not even one monitor was active and Oliver didn't bother to switch them on to trace Chloe. Victor would take care of that, when he was back.

The slight hope that Chloe might wait for him in the Clocktower soon vanished. The surveillance system and the cameras didn't show a single person that entered the apartment.

Oliver uttered a curse. Now he had to drive all the way to Smallville. Once you need the Blur, he is on another continent.

* * *

There were already signs of the dawning day, as Oliver parked at the back of the Talon.

By the time he had reached Smallville his anger had already reached the boiling point. He jimmied the lock of the backdoor and went up the stairs to the apartment. Then he furiously hammered against the door and called out Chloe's name.

Nothing.

Oliver broke the lock and went in. No sign of Chloe in the whole apartment.

A key laid on the table in the living room. It was Chloe's.

* * *

Opinion? Did you like it? please leave a review! I'll answer everyone of it, if you want to!

Best wishes

Honey


	3. Fly away

Title: Nothern Lights

Author: Honey 1005

Summary: Takes place after the events of checkmate. Chloe sacrifices everything to keep her loved ones safe, but will gong underground turn out to be the right solution?

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent

Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones (in future chapters)

Rating: M

Genre: Romance/Drama; Hurt/Comfort

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

I'm sorry that it took me so long to continue with this story and I hope that there is still someone out there, who wants to read it.

Because of some personal struggles and a new aparment, this project got delayed, but now I'm back to old strength and ready to continue, where I left of...

Hope you like it!

* * *

_**Chapter 3 or Fly Away**_

_„I want to get away_  
_I want to fly away_  
_Yeah yeah yeah"_ Lenny Kravitz – Fly Away

Chloe thought that things would get better as soon as she was out of Kansas or at least when she had put about thousand miles and a border between her and Oliver.

They weren't.

That the feeling of guilt and hurt might already fade.

It wasn't.

Now here she was standing inside of Montréal Trudeau International Airport and felt the desperate urge to look exactly as calm yet hectic as the other passengers waiting for their flights. The last thing she needed was to stand out of the crowd. She searched for the number of her connecting flight on the board above her head and then she started off to the gate as quickly as possible.

The mirrors in every one of the duty free shops, which she was passing by, led her to throw a slightly incredulous look at her hair, though.

* * *

As soon as she had taken her new passport and the other documents out of the safe deposit box at the train station in Wichita, she knew she had to change her appearance. Then she had looked for a public bathroom near the restaurant, where she had taken a quick brunch.

At this time of the day people were far too busy to give their pause for lunch a good use, to notice the natural blonde, who was eagerly reading the prescription for the hair color, which was already waiting at the sink. With one last look on a part of her, which she actually liked Chloe mixed the two fluids and a few moments later she rubbed it into the strands of her hair.

Then she waited. The minutes were passing awfully slowly. Maybe she should have thought of buying a paper to kill the time in between, but as most good ideas that one came too late too. She tapped impatiently with her fingers on her other arm.

As long as her hair didn't turn out green everything would be fine. Half an hour later Chloe threw her hair back and packed the hair dryer back into her suitcase. In the stained mirror she observed the outcome of her experiment. There wasn't much to say, besides the fact that it was … brown; Simple and inconspicuous brown. _"Oh crap! I look like a mouse!" _

* * *

It was already dark outside, when Chloe arrived at the airport of Winnipeg. She had spent the whole day zig-zagging through the country, by train and plane. From Smallville, over Wichita, Boston and Montreal to finally arrive here. Like that she hoped to leave as little traces as possible.

During her travel route her nerves had made her nearly crazy, because she was expecting Clark or any of the other _"Super-friends"_ to swoop in and catch her by surprise every minute. Maybe the boys had come back earlier from their set up mission and already noticed that she was gone. Or Oliver had discovered that she had "borrowed" the jet without his knowledge and had driven to Smallville to give her a piece of his mind. He could have informed Clark that she was nowhere to find. Chloe could build that story arch on and on. The possibilities that her friends might have noticed her disappearance too early were endless.

Chloe sighed in exhaustion and waved her hand to a near taxi driver to get help with her luggage.

He was a stout man with a broad red face and hands like shovels. With those he lifted one suitcase after another and put them into the trunk, as if they were empty, though Chloe had had to pay for their overweight. Finally, when she sunk into the backseat of the car, Chloe let herself relax a little bit.

She took one deep breath and rubbed her tired eyes. If it was the blue contact lenses she was wearing, or tears burning up, she didn't dare to decide.

"_Uhm… Miss?"_

The driver interrupted her thoughts and looked at her through the mirror. She had to tell him their destination yet.

So she cleared her throat, before she looked up to meet his eyes, which were surprisingly friendly.

"_To the Carlton Inn, please!"_she , her voice still sounded croaky.

It took only a few minutes until the taxi stopped at the parking lot in front of the lobby of said Motel. After helping her with the bags once again, the driver received a big tip and wished a good night.

* * *

Far past eleven, Chloe was still wide awake and threw herself from one side of the bed to the other. It didn't help that it was queen-sized either.

Sleep just didn't want to come. Even the long hot shower didn't help, nor did some boring sitcom on Comedy Central.

Angrily, Chloe switched on the little light above her bed and dug in the drawer of the nightstand, until she found what she was looking for.

Once again that day she stared down at her new passport, the proof that she had taken the step. "_There is no way back, now!"_ Chloe murmured and asked herself silently, why she hadn't picked out an alias by herself.

She alrready knew the answer: Because she hadn't been able to fake one on her lonesome, at least not without anyone to find out or leaving remainders on the computers of Watchtower. Having someone else to worry about it, had been the easy way out. At least, she thought so.

An electronically altered picture, which had been her receipt to the change of her looks, was inside the little laminated document. The name under it seemed to mock her with great pleasure.

It said Catherine Archer-Greene.

Chloe made a gagging sound. Right, she had really, really needed that stupid thing, but there had been no reason to use this name, his nickname.

But that she was now a widow was the overkill. It made her heart ache. In a long time, she hadn't thought about Jimmy in that way, though she was kind of his widow, aside of their divorce. And with a nickname of his superhero persona it felt as if Oliver had been killed too. Silent tears rolled from her cheeks and dropped on the pillow and lulled her into an uneasy sleep.

Oversized faces of her cousin and her friends were floating through her dream and asked her constantly, why she had betrayed and hurt them on purpose.

About half past six, Chloe finally woke from her nightmare.

Nausea hit her like a ton of bricks – she barely made it to the bathroom in time – and kept her in there for more than half an hour.

After Chloe's stomach had calmed down, she checked her to-do list that her friend had written for her.

Then she took a small breakfast, which consisted of a plain bagel and some herbal tea. She ate as quickly as possible, because the smell of freshly-brewed coffee nearly made her delirious. When she had finished her meal, she hurried out of the lobby.

* * *

"_I've got your car ready and waiting for you, Mrs. Archer-Greene! Would you please follow me?"_

The car dealer's voice was too smooth to be honest, his smile and his hair were faked and his aftershave stung in an uncomfortable way in Chloe's nostrils.

He was seemingly overjoyed by the fact that the car had been already paid, but maybe it was just her imagination, because she felt bad for being just a fake herself from now on.

On the outside of the building he stopped next to a dark blue middle-class Sedan, which shone proudly in the early sunlight. The car was used but still in a good shape.

For one second Chloe pulled a doubting frown, which was immediately seen by the car dealer. Apparently he thought he would lose a sealed deal and he reacted promptly.

"_Of course we have some other cars to offer, if this one doesn't please you!"_

Chloe rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. 

_"No, thank you, I will take this one!"_

She regarded the car in front of her. It didn't look very exciting and wouldn't cause any unwanted attention.

Ergo it was perfect for her.

* * *

The wind brushed through the young woman's long hair, as she leaned on the hood of her car in the parking lot of a little diner just outside the city limits of Edmonton.

With her tight jeans, the expensive silk blouse and the trendy leather boots, she was quite an eye catcher. Her sunglasses were shoved back up in her hair to keep it from tickling her cheeks.

What a beautiful day. It wasn't really hot anymore. You could feel autumn was on its way. The wind was already changing, it was blowing more briskly.

She tilted her head back and blinked into the sun. It was about noon. She had arrived just a few minutes ago, because she knew that Chloe needed her time to drive the long distance from Saskatchewan to Alberta.

A dark Ford entered the parking lot and came to a halt, which was so sudden that the gravel sprayed up behind the rear tires, like water in a fountain.

Just when she opened her mouth to protest, she recognized the woman behind the wheel. It took a while, until she could make out her friend, whom she hadn't seen in over a year, in the strangely looking woman, though she had seen her artificial new self before.

Even with the sun stinging in her eyes it was easy to tell that Chloe was very tired, when the latter opened the door and stepped out of the car.

A fact that was also new to her friend was that her face was plain, as if she hadn't even tried to put on make-up at all.

The two women slowly looked each other up and down, before Chloe went straight up to her friend and let herself be welcomed in the other woman's arms.

They shared a warm hug. 

_"Long time no see, huh? It's good to see you! How have you been, Chloe?"_

Suddenly she was irritated by the wetness of her collar, caused by the tears flowing from Chloe's face.

Chloe's answer came back muffled because she had buried her face into her friend's blouse. _"_

_It's good to see you too, Lana!"_

* * *

Good, bad or awfully boring? ^^ Let me know!

The next chapter is going to be longer than this one, I promise! It will be also more centered on Oliver...

Hope to read from you soon!


	4. Misery

Title: Nothern Lights

Author: Honey 1005

Summary: Takes place after the events of checkmate.

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent

Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones (in future chapters)

Rating: M

Genre: Romance/Drama; Hurt/Comfort

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

Hey there! Finally, I'm able to post another chapter! YAY! It took me a long time, beacause I'm currently working on three term papers for university!

But now this one's finished and ready for you! And it's longer than the last one! Hope you have fun!

* * *

_**Chapter 4 or Misery**_

_"It's not that I didn't care_  
_It's that I didn't know_  
_It's not what I didn't feel,_  
_It's what I didn't show_  
_So let me be_  
_And I'll set you free_

_I am in misery_  
_There ain't nobody_

_Who can comfort me_  
_Why won't you answer me?_  
_Your silence is slowly killing me_  
_Girl you really got me bad_  
_You really got me bad_  
_I'm gonna get you back_  
_Gonna get you back_  
_Why do you do what you do to me? yeah_  
_Why won't you answer me? answer me yeah"_ Maroon 5 - Misery

* * *

Oliver let himself drop on the couch with an annoyed growl. He slowly rubbed circles on his temples, because he felt a serious headache coming up.

In order to relax, he tried to stretch his body out on the piece of furniture, but failed. It was simply too short for his large form. He took a few deep breaths and tried to think clearly.

Chloe was nowhere to see, but her key lay solely on the coffee table. The prom photo, from which a proud Clark and Chloe smiled up at him, proved it. Oliver couldn't help getting angry at the sight of the best friends.

Clark, the perfect guy.

Clark, who had always been able to make Chloe happy.

"_Oh, stop it already! Being envious of Boy-Scout won't help you to find her!"_

Oliver ground out bitterly.

He had sifted through the whole apartment.

There weren't any traces that someone might have broken in, except the door lock that Ollie had broken half an hour earlier. No chaos in the bedroom or anywhere else, no sign of a fight either. Everything would seem normal, if only Chloe wasn't missing.

But why the hell would she leave without her keys? Did she lock herself out? In that case she may have walked over to the Kent Farm, because she knew, where the spare key was to be found. Should he just drive over to try and see?

Once again Oliver tried to reach Chloe on her cell phone. Again straight to voicemail. Angrily he threw his phone into the sofa cushions, where it bounced one time and then landed on the floor with a thud.

What if anything had happened to her?

"_Damn it, Chloe!"_

He got up to quickly make his way to the bathroom and found some painkillers in the cabinet above the sink. He downed two of them with a sip of water and briefly covered his hurting eyes with his hands.

Somehow Oliver couldn't help the impression that there was something he was missing. Then it struck him. He opened the door of the cabinet once again. Only some of the racks were covered with make-up and other sanitary products. Normally they were so full, they nearly seemed to break under the weight.

Oliver raced back into the living room and looked around, the bedroom followed straight after. He shook his head. Chloe would never leave without her laptop.

"_HA!"_ Oliver blurted out, but he regretted it immediately, as a sharp pain shot straight through his brain. Added to the last stressful days, worrying about Chloe didn't have the most positive effect. Damn, this woman was making him crazy.

Maybe it would be best for him to rest a little bit. As soon as the guys would be back, Victor could check on the GPS transmitter of Chloe's computer to locate the stupid thing.

After he discovered this apparent possibility to find Chloe, Oliver was able to calm down a little bit. Everything would be alright if he was just able to find her. Then they could wipe out all the things that blocked their way from being together.

Oliver felt relieved for a moment, but then he suddenly felt so tired that he allowed himself to lie down on Chloe's bed and didn't even bother about removing the day cover.

In his head, thoughts still kept rotating, though. He couldn't think of any reason, why Chloe would have gone missing just like that.

Why hadn't she told anyone where she was going, or what she had planned?

That didn't seem like Chloe at all.

Would she really go this far only to punish him? And if he was honest with himself, didn't he have it coming for behaving like an ass that morning?

* * *

"_When will we land in Metropolis? How long will it take? Are we going to be there soon? You think Chloe was really kidnapped…?" _

AC and Victor both had immediately noticed that Bart was worried, because usually even he didn't babble that much.

He hadn't even called her Chloelicious or used any other nickname, when talking about her, so it had to be really tough for him that nobody had been able to reach Chloe during the last days. There was silence for some relieving moments, but then Bart started a new rant with a sudden outburst.

"_Whoever did this to her, I'm so going to kick his ass! Beat him up, till he can't walk anymore, that fuckin' bastard!"_

Victor let a small cough escape from his lips and shot the boy a dispraising look.

Bart closed his mouth instantly and shrugged. Instead of blustering he started to zoom from one side of the jet to another, always making a short stop at the windows on every side to look out impatiently.

If he continued like that until landing, there would be deep holes in the carpet on the floor and Ollie would freak out.

The whole floor had just been renewed for a few grand the last month.

The two older team members felt the same worries inside as the younger one did, but they were more comfortable to stay quiet and think about the whole situation.

AC sighed deeply. Luckily, Oliver was already there. He would take care of the situation, he knew what to do. He always did, didn't he?

Maybe it had just been false alarm and Chloe had only needed some days away from the hero business.

Who knew? Every one of them felt the urge to get far, far away from time to time.

Bart could run to a beach in Mexico in the glimpse of an eye, AC himself could swim with the fish in the oceans to relax and even Victor found some distraction in the virtual world. It was only fair to say that Chloe had the right to back out for a few days and get some fresh air.

Victor and AC understood that, but Bart…

His relationship with Chloe was special, at least seen from his point. Bart loved Chloe unconditionally. It wasn't only about the slight crush he had on her, for him Chloe was his family and he needed her. No wonder, he wouldn't understand any reasonable explanation for her sudden disappearance.

He was still too young to feel burnt out by their job and you could make him happy with a big warm meal and some computer games.

For the others it wasn't that easy anymore.

And for Chloe it must be even harder, because she wasn't only responsible for herself, but for all of them. She always considered it her upmost duty to guide them through any difficult job and to show them a safe way out of whatever situation they would find themselves in.

* * *

As soon as the plane had landed at the airport of Metropolis and the door slowly slid open, Victor and AC felt the familiar gust of wind and Bart was gone.

Victor turned to face the other remaining guy and mumbled:

_"I hate it, when he does that! He didn't even care that there are lots of people, who could have seen something!"_

AC just laughed patted Victor's shoulder sympathetically.

"_Aw, come on! The only thing you hate, is that he makes us look awfully slow, when he vanishes into thin air right in front of us! Believe me, I don't like being left in the dust, either!"_

Victor cracked a small smile.

"_You're right, Fishman! Let's go and see if we can make our favorite girl appear again!"_

* * *

Bart didn't even need much more than one whole minute to make his way to the Talon. Not his minimum time for this distance, but not bad at all.

He stopped in the apartment and adjusted his hoody, which was in a little disarray because of its owner's velocity. Looking around, he noticed that there was someone sleeping in Chloe's bed. He rushed to the bedside and threw a slightly incredulous look at Oliver.

His Boss had to be really worn out, so he didn't want to wake him, until Vic and AC would arrive. Therefore he sent a short text message to AC's cell.

"_Bossmann's out like a lamp! Runnin' over to the Kent's. Might find something there. CU compañeros!"_

A few minutes later he returned from his quest without any new information in tow.

At first he checked if Oliver was still sleeping. Then he looked around in the apartment, but couldn't quite figure out what to do next. It freaked him out that everything and everyone seemed to be even slower than normal and that precious time was being wasted. Maybe they should have called Clark already. He was at least a little bit faster than the rest of the team.

As he kept looking around lost in thought, Chloe's wooden dresser caught his eye. The left top drawer wasn't properly closed. A little piece of cloth peaked out of the gap. It was purple and looked like silk or something like that. Bart felt himself magically drawn to open that drawer and get a closer look.

Just as he reached out with his fingers to pull at the handle and already felt the cool metal, he suddenly felt a sharp pain coming from the back of his head. A strong hand had connected with his head in a powerful bash.

"_Ooow! What was that for?"_

Bart whined and turned to confront the hand's owner. He rubbed the area, where the now pulsating pain was spreading from.

A very pissed Oliver scowled down at him.

"_What do you think you're doing? If Chloe had caught you poking around in her underwear, you would have been lucky to get only smacked at the back of your head!" _Oliver fumed.

"_Okay, okay! I'm sorry! But how come, **you** do know that there's underwear in this drawer?"_

After this bold answer he quickly ducked, because he saw another blow coming, but Oliver decided to ignore his smart-ass friend. Nonetheless, Bart chose to better keep quiet for this time.

The old _"Don't poke an angry dog with a stick" – _saying suddenly made more sense to him than ever before. Only that Oliver was more dangerous than any dog he could think of right now.

For some moments he had forgotten that Chloe was missing and wouldn't come right around the corner to clean the air between team members, as she had always done, when they had been quarreling or arguing about some rubbish again.

_"Let's just cut the crap and get to the important stuff! Where are Victor and AC?"_

Like on cue they appeared in the door frame of the apartment.

"_Hey guys! Bart, did you find out something?" _AC asked, while Victor was already setting up his laptop at the kitchen counter.

Then he slowly looked back and forth between Bart and Oliver and tried to get, which strange exchange was going on there. Oliver seemed oddly stiff and asked in a weird tone: _"Yeah, Bart! Did you find something important?"_

The boy blushed and winced with discomfort, but recovered quickly. _"I went over to Kent farm, but I didn't find any trace of Chloe there."_

AC nodded and waited for Oliver to say something, who cleared his throat before speaking up.

"_No signs of forced entry or abduction in the whole apartment. The lock is broken, but that was me. I was a little bit impatient… But some of Chloe's stuff is missing. Cell, clothes, laptop, make-up and other things like that. Also - " _

"_There is no evidence that Chloe left involuntarily, but still.."_ Victor mentioned pensively.

"_Chloe would never leave without telling someone, where she was going! Maybe she told Lois, don't forget they are best friends!"_ Bart pointed that out in untarnished belief.

Oliver had already thought about that possibility too, but it made him cringe, when he thought about asking Lois where the girl that he was sleeping with could have left.

Knowing Lois and her inability of keeping anything secret chances were that Boy-Scout already knew that his relationship with Chloe had fallen apart. And if Clark came to know about Chloe's getaway, her super powered best friend might feel tempted to turn him inside out.

Especially after he had warned him that morning at the B&B not to screw things up with her. All the blame would be on his side, though until now he didn't even exactly know what he had done.

Right, he had behaved like a total ass, but Chloe hadn't been exactly nice either. He thought that they had just hit a rough patch and that Chloe had just tried to redraw the lines, because he had invaded her personal life a little bit too much for her own taste.

Therefore he had tried to make excuses for his behavior and given her time to relax and find peace with the fact that he wouldn't back out, because of some obstacles in their way.

Instead it seemed that she had willingly abandoned him.

"_Uhm… , earth to Arrow, can you hear me?"_

Oliver pulled out of his reverie and looked at Victor, who was watching him with blatant curiosity from his place at the kitchen counter.

"_Can you trace her cell from here, or do you need the equipment at Watchtower?"_

"_Seriously? Man, you're hurting my feelings! Emil had my programs updated a few weeks ago…"_

"_Meaning?"_

"_Piece of cake, your majesty!"_

"_So, what are you waiting for? Hurry up!"_

"_It would work a lot faster, if you only stopped rushing me!"_

Oliver closed his mouth, but paced around like a tiger in a cage with AC and Bart looking on.

A few minutes later Victor blew a whistle and Bart was next to him out of nowhere without caring that he nearly knocked AC over.

"_Dude! Stop doing that!"_ AC complained.

"_Don't dude me, amigo!"_

"_SHUT THE FUCK UP, WOULD YOU?"_ Oliver yelled furiously.

"_Calm down, man! No need to go through the roof!"_ Bart complained.

"_If anyone's still interested, I might have found something!"_ Victor interrupted their explosion. _"But you sure won't like it!"_

The other men turned their attention to him and finally listened.

"_Spill!" _Oliver and Bart said unisono._  
_

"_Not all that friendly, please!" _

Oliver shot him a more than unfriendly glance and silently asked himself, why all of his team members had apparently chosen to behave like infants today of all days.

"_Never mind! Okay, here's the problem! There hadn't been any conversations after the day we took off. I was able to locate the latest signal her phone was sending, but after that it looks as if it was turned off. These are the coordinates!" _

With one click a map of Smallville appeared on the screen. A red dot showed them the location of the last signal.

A prickling feeling of fear spread through Oliver's body, as he realized which position that was.

Loeb Bridge. Elbow River was roaring beneath it. What if Chloe…? Oliver shook his head quickly. He didn't even want to finish that thought.

"_Got it! On my way!"_ AC hurried out.

"_Victor, try it with her notebook, please! Maybe Chloe just lost her cell!"_ Oliver said it to becalm himself as well as the others.

"_Already on it!"_

For some endless minutes, there was no sound, but the hammering of Vic's fingers on the keyboard.

Oliver gazed over to Bart, whose eyes were brimming with unshed tears. With a more helpless than reaffirming gesture, Oliver walked over to the younger man, and tried to console him with a manly pat on the shoulder.

"_Thank god!" _ Victor sighed full of relief.

"_Gotcha! Bart this one's for you! __Hotel del Sol, El Paso! __Go, get there!"_

Before Victor had finished, Bart was already gone.

* * *

The door of the apartment opened for the umpteenth time this day.

But it was the false woman, who entered the room.

"_Look what I found outside!" _Dinah smiled lightly and pointed at the dripping wet AC, who was coming in behind her.

"_No sign of her! Just found the phone on the ground of the river!"_

Oliver filled Dinah and AC in on the latest cue, when Bart arrived.

In his hands he held a postpaid parcel. Oliver fumbled the laptop out of the cardboard box.

"_What the…?"_

The others threw a look over their leader's shoulder. There was a pink post-it on the computer with only one sentence.

"_NICE TRY!"_

* * *

The next day the team met again in Watchtower.

Victor enwrapped himself into the virtual world of Watchtower's database, while all the others tried to stay as far away from Oliver as possible. They were all perplexed by the game Chloe was playing with them, but Oliver seemed so volatile that nobody wanted to anger him.

All of a sudden an ear-piercing sound started and the whole room was lit in deep red light. Dinah and Bart jumped up from the sofa, fully alert.

"_I think we might have a slight problem here!"_ Victor sounded compunctious.

"_What now? Can't you turn that off?"_ Even Dinah was annoyed by the sound. A moment later everything was back to normal. Nearly everything.

"_There is no sign of Chloe Anne Sullivan in Watchtower's hard disk storage or in any other U.S. database! Watchtower was last accessed by an unknown user. I must have been Chloe, because the user is listed as system admin. Apparently she planted a worm, which just works for subject-related data-files!"_

"_Once again for the not so geeky ones among us, please!" _Dinah rolled her eyes.

"_Uhm… I can access every file, except anything related to Chloe! Her identity was erased, but not only from this processor, but also from every government system. "_

_"So?"_ Bart shrugged, still not getting the point.

"_Don't you understand? There is no record that there has ever been a Chloe Sullivan, legally spoken she doesn't exist!"_ Victor explained.

"_What in the name of god have I done to deserve this?"_ The words escaped Oliver's lips, before he could control himself.

The others eyed him suspiciously, but didn't say a word.

* * *

_"QUEEN!"_

The lovely voice of Lois Lane roared through the headquarters of LuthorCorp.

Some seconds later the door to Oliver's office flew open with a loud bang and the cousin of his lover stormed in with murder on her face...

His personal secretary looked something between intimidated and afraid, as she came into sight right after Lois.

"_I'm sorry Mr. Queen! I couldn't get her to wait outside!"_

"_Don't worry, Helen! It's okay, Miss Lane is always welcome."_ He turned in his chair to face her. _"Good to see you, Lois! What can I do for you?"_

Lois waited until the secretary had closed the door.

"_Cut the crap! Where the hell is my cousin?"_

"_I can honestly say that I don't know!"_

"_Don't get smart with me! Be glad that I consider you a friend otherwise I wouldn't behave so nicely!"_

"_Sorry, I ticked you off, but please remember that it was me, who informed you that Chloe is gone! I would feel a lot better too, if I knew where to find her!"_

Lois bent down to bring her face down on the same level as Oliver's.

"_Oh, I'm sure that you know far more, than you're telling me! And believe me, whatever it is, I'll find out about it! And then I'm coming back and we'll have a nice talk! And I won't return alone!"_

"_Are you trying to threaten me?"_

"_It's a promise, Oliver!"_

Lois turned to leave, but Oliver quickly got up from his leather chair and caught her arm.

"_Listen, Lois! I really don't know why Chloe is gone!"_

Lois crossed her hands in front of her breasts. _"That's simple. Because you hurt her feelings, you jerk!"_

"_I know you know we had a fight, but it wasn't only my fault. Chloe walked out on me, not the other way 'round! I spent more than ten days looking for her, and believe me I used every single one of all my resources. So if you want to lecture someone about being a jerk, find your cousin and go tell her about hurting someone's feelings!"_

He let go of her and tried to get some distance.

"_It would be nice, if you could go now! I don't want to throw you out, butI have a lot of work left over from the last days."_

To her own astonishment Lois didn't shoot back a cynical comment. She just gave him a look that he couldn't quite identify.

"_Goodbye, Oliver!"_

Her voice was low and she closed the door behind her without a noise.

* * *

When he came home to the Clocktower a few days later, Oliver felt beaten like never before. Truth to be told he had been miserable over the last days, but right now it seemed to be worse than ever.

His work seemed to have reduced to a tool to spend time without thinking about Chloe and why she had betrayed him.

Them. She had betrayed the whole team.

The moment he noticed the used glass of water next to the sink and the open balcony doors he braced himself for the inevitable confrontation.

"_Hey, Clark!"_ He tried to sound lighthearted.

Clark came in, the familiar serious look on his face.

Oliver poured himself a double whisky on ice and took a large sip.

"_You look tired!"_

"_Is that so? I thought I was looking as stunning as ever!"_ Oliver retorted snottily.

"_Don't be mad at me, because Lois overshot a little bit. I'm not here to lecture you!"_

"_Oh, good. I think I already had that talk with your girlfriend…"_

"_Please, let me finish! Can you absolutely rule out the possibility that Chloe has been abducted?"_

" _You mean Checkmate or Tess?"_

Clark simply nodded.

Oliver downed the rest his drink and poured a new one, before answering.

"_Yes, absolutely! Checkmate seems to be off the radar after your alien friends burnt down "The Castle", which I must state, was not a bad move at all… And the Kandorians don't' seem to have anything to do with it. The apartment is still intact, isn't it?"_

"_That means Chloe left willingly. I just can't understand why she would leave us?" _

"_She didn't leave **us**, Clark! She left me! And I hope that she'll never come back!"_

He looked at the bottom of his glass, which was already empty again. _"Wow, that was fast!"_ he thought.

As if Clark had heard his thoughts he felt his worried glance.

"_You shouldn't drink that much, Oliver!"_

"_There are a lot of things that I shouldn't do, Clark! And you know what? In the near future I plan to do a lot more things I shouldn't do than drinking! Besides didn't you say, you won't lecture me?"_

The silence after that comment stung in Oliver's ears and he felt the urge to reinforce his position.

"_Don't you have any orphans to save, Boy-Scout? Get out and worry about someone else!"_

He took the bottle and plopped down on the couch. Who needs a glass, when you've got the whole bottle.

"_I'm sorry, Oliver!" _

They both knew it had nothing to do with Oliver's reestablished drinking habits.

And with a last gust of wind he was gone.

_"Yeah, whatever!"_ Oliver mumbled and returned to his bottle.

* * *

As promised this chapter was centered around our favourite archer. Poor Ollie! He doesn't even know what hit him.

Let me know what you think! And if you have any suggestions or critical comments to make, don't hesitate to tell me! I'm glad of any form of participation.

Please leave me some reviews, even if you just use two or three word! Just "good" or "bad" would also do...

**PS:** I updated this chapter to rewrite the afterword, because I didn't get one single comment on this chapter, which somehow makes me sad :(

But still: Next Chapter will be up in a few days, hope that this is going to tickle your fancy!

Best wishes

Honey


	5. Through These Times

Title: Northern Lights

Author: Honey 1005

Summary: Takes place after the events of checkmate.

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent

Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones (in future chapters)

Rating: M

Genre: Romance/Drama; Hurt/Comfort

I'm sorry it still took me so long to post this, but I had a lot of work to do and I also was on a holiday for a time. To say it in the words of Bryan Adams: "Please forgive me!"

Before you read this chapter, I would like to explain that Chloe's and Oliver's timelines differ slightly. That's why this chapter starts with "About a week earlier..." I don't know if this will work to avoid confusion or only increase it. Feel free to comment and/ or criticize!

Pauline: This chapter is dedicated to you, because you managed to motivate me to continue writing! Thank you very much!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

* * *

**Chapter 5 or Through These Times**

"_There was a time when I'd rather run away._  
_If there was a place to hide it's where you'd find me today._  
_But there is nowhere to run, no one else to face but myself._  
_You don't have to tell me I'm wrong._

_So tell me where to go from here,_

_Tell me how to find another way._  
_I know that you can get me out of this_

_If I could only make it through the day._  
_So tell me where to go from here,_

_Tell me is there more to find._  
_I'm looking for the only one,_

_who can get me through these times."_ Lifehouse – Through These Times

* * *

About a week earlier Chloe had been so relieved to see her old friend Lana that she couldn't help herself but cry.

She had been so tired and felt so lost and alone that she literally collapsed into the other girl's arms. Lana had been clearly surprised by her overflowing of emotion and she had needed a moment to react. Then she lightly patted Chloe's back and waited for her to calm down.

Time seemed to move very slowly as she hugged her friend and tried to help her to cope with whatever problem she had right now.

"_When you told me you needed to get away, I kind of figured that there was something on, but I had no idea that it was that serious! Tell me what's going on, Chloe!"_

Slowly Lana took a step back to look properly into her friend's eyes, which were still reddened and wet from the tears she had shed. Chloe avoided her glance and looked down without answering.

Instead she bit on her lower lip until it turned white. It seemed as if she tried to keep herself from blurting out something important.

Suddenly her stomach gave her away and let out a growl that was so loud that Lana couldn't suppress a giggle.

Obviously Chloe wasn't used to just have tea and some plain pastry in the morning. Hell, she just knew that she was pregnant for about ten days and was already about to get crazy, because she couldn't drink coffee anymore.

Once she had thought about trying decaffeinated, but quickly dismissed it, because there was no chance that it could taste like the original. Her friend spoke up again and interrupted her thoughts.

"_Come on, let's go in! Lunch's on me! It seems to be urgent, because your stomach's already rumbling!" _

The warmth of Lana's hand gave Chloe some comfort as she followed the way the other girl was leading. Maybe it would be better to eat something, before getting the reaction – which she would get for sure – when she had dropped the news. The two girls went inside the restaurant and chose a table in the rear section to stay unaffected by the other guests, their sometimes too loud dialogues, and maybe too listening ears. People were always curious about the news and problems other people had to share, that was just a known fact.

The diner's interior was simple, but quite nice. There were small potted plants on every one of the bright wooden tables and the chairs around them were white and had colorful cushions on the seats. The French windows were so large that they went down to the floor and allowed a great amount of sunlight to get into the room. The creamy curtains made the guestroom more cozy and gave it a somewhat homey flair.

Chloe didn't have that much time to look around, because the waiter arrived in no time to take their orders, but she liked what she had seen so far.

Lana had studied the menu carefully and already knew what she wanted to eat.

"_Hmm… I take a big orange juice with water and I'll have the salad Niçoise with low fat mayonnaise if that's possible?"_

The waiter nodded lightly. _"Of course, Ma'am! And for you, Miss?" _He turned to Chloe and gave her a big smile.

"_Just Water and the vegetarian soup, but without the onions, for me, please!" _

Lana raised her eyebrow, because of the unusual choice, but didn't say anything until the waiter had disappeared into the kitchen. Soup wasn't very high on Chloe's list of favorite food.

Then she changed her mind and chose to address the weird food order of her oldest friend with a joke to lighten up the conversation.

"_Do you have problems with your stomach lately? I can't even remember the last time you ate something like vegetable soup…It must have been in junior high, when you felt sick because of our history exam!"_ She asked curiously and smiled with amusement.

The answer came slowly and after a little pause_._

_"I think it has to do with the stress during the last days."_

Chloe told herself that it wasn't really a lie. She had just left out the information that it had probably to do with the fact that Oliver's child was growing inside her. And to say she was fine, would be pointless and just as an invitation to ask further questions. She lost herself in the weird ways of her thoughts, until Lana's voice made her way back into Chloe's consciousness.

"_I've heard a lot in the news about the last happenings around Metropolis and Smallville and their background through some of my connections. Is that why you're here, Chloe? Are the al…,_ they_ after you and it wasn't safe anymore to stay around?"_ Lana's worried expression made Chloe feel even guiltier.

"_It has at least something to do with it!"_ she said vaguely and took a deep breath. It would be best to handle it like pulling off a band-aid. One quick move and it's over.

But the ambitious waiter once again thwarted her brave plan to tell Lana the truth about her knee - jerk disappearance act. How the hell did he manage to fix their beverages that quickly? Chloe had to suppress a crestfallen sigh, as he put the glasses down in front of them. Instead she took a big gulp from her water, while she tried to build up her courage just once more.

"_Oliver and I hooked up some time ago and now I'm pregnant!"_

* * *

Lana's eyes grew wide in shock. Then she tried to get some air, but had forgotten that she had just taken a sip of her juice. She choked on it and started to cough heavily.

Chloe rushed over to her side and gave her friends some mild slaps on her back until she was able to breathe properly again. With reddened eyes and cheeks her friend's face looked more disbelieving than she had ever seen.

"_You're what?" _she yelped, not caring about the good dozen of people, who observed them with unconcealed curiosity. _"Are you sure?"_

Chloe rolled her eyes. _"You know, if I weren't it would have been a more than bad idea to beat loose just like that!"_

Lana needed a few moments to collect herself, before she spoke up again. This time she lowered her voice carefully. _"You're saying it was Oliver, who knocked you up? Oliver… really?"_ For a moment she lost the thread. _"I suppose it wasn't planned, right?" _

Her vis-à-vis shook her head and sent her newly brown strands flying._"You think?" _Her words dripped of sarcasm.

"_So… you're essentially telling me that you are smart enough to do a pregnancy test the right way, yet you act too foolish to avoid getting accidentally pregnant and still you really think that you are the right person to evaluate if running away was a bad idea? Are you CRAZY?"_

She wasn't able to hide her excitement, while speaking, as her hands fidgeted with her table napkin the whole time.

Chloe's face turned bright red with embarrassment. _"You're one to talk! Didn't a similar story happen to you, only with a slightly different ending…"_ She retorted with a very meaningful look.

This time it was Lana's turn to look ashamed. _"Right, I'm the one who married Lex Luthor. Hm…, I guess I'm not in the position to lecture you about making bad decisions!"_

"_Talking about bad decisions, what the hell where you thinking, when you gave me THAT name? It nearly gave me a stroke the first time I had a look at it!"_

"_To my defense: I had no idea that you were making the bedsprings squeak with the jolly green bowman!"_ She shrugged in excuse. _"I just thought it was funny and when you said you needed to get away I used the first name coming to my mind… I'm sorry!"_

In the meantime Chloe had managed to calm down and their conversation had reached a normal volume level so that the other guests had returned their attention to their meals. She knew that she had overreacted, probably because guilt was slowly getting the best of her.

_"I know that you didn't do it out of bad intentions, but can we skip the subject for now and just have our meals?"_

"_Okay, but you should consider going back soon! Oliver has a right to know that – "_

The look Chloe shot her a glare, which clearly said "none of your damn business" and just for now Lana gave in and hushed. There would be time enough to make Chloe face the consequences of her act. At least it seemed the Chloe had planned to stay away permanently, but she hoped to be given the chance to make her friend reconsider her decision.

They both kept silent until they had finished. Lana paid the bill.

* * *

_"Welcome to Athabasca, _Cathy_!"_ Lana joked. _"So, what you think?"_

_"I like it! I think I can stay here."_ Chloe said with a little smile as the two women stood in front of her new home and looked up at it. It was a small house with two stories and a beautiful wooden terrace in the front, where the stair led the way to the entrance door. The outside was clad with beige timber panels and the windows had white window shutters.

The property was near the center of the small town with only about 3000 inhabitants. The Athabasca River was just some meters behind the house.

There were also some bushes, trees and a carport, which already sheltered Chloe's car. Her new home. Only the thought of it made her heart ache.

_"Come in! I'll show you around! I already bought some pieces of furniture and the rent for the next three months from the money you sent me."_

About fifteen minutes later, they sat down around the kitchen table, because there was no other seating accommodation on the ground floor. The living room was still bare, except for the empty bookshelves in one corner.

_"The rest of your assets is on your new bank account."_ She explained and handed Chloe a bunch of documents.

_"And that is…"_

_"All the information you're going to need concerning the background of your undercover persona, pin codes and passwords for your account, cell phone and laptop. You find them in the locked closet next to the bedroom upstairs. There are also the treaties for the house and everything about rent, water, firing and electricity!"_ Lana quickly enumerated.

"_Wow, you really took care of it all!"_

"_Ah… wait, I forgot something!"_ Lana's face disappeared behind the curtain of her hair as she dug in her handbag sitting on the edge of the wooden table.

"_There you are, damn thing!"_ She sounded satisfied as she fished out two other envelopes and handed Chloe the first one.

"_This is for your job interview. It's on Wednesday. I thought getting a job makes you appear..., you know,... more normal to other people. "_ Then she laid the other one on the table. _"Open it!"_

Chloe ripped the paper flap open and curiously looked inside. She pulled out another identification card.

"_This little baby allows you to carry firearms in Canada. There are two of your favorites upstairs too. __Jerichos 941FS. Just to be safe, but I hope you won't need them."_

„_Me too!"_Chloe put the card down and hesitated for a moment before she spoke up again. "_Thank you some much for taking care of everything! I don't know how to thank you!"_

Tears of gratitude welled up her eyes.

"_You don't have to thank me. Don't cry, everything's gonna be okay!"_ Helplessly she patted her friend's hand.

"_I don't even know, where all those tears are coming from! Normally, I must be already running dry from crying about every little thing!" _In an annoyed gesture she threw her hands up.

_"That has to be that hormone overdose everybody says pregnant women are having!"_

"_Seems like, I got myself a mean one!"_

They both laughed.

As Lana finally went toleave she remembered Chloe to make a doctor's appointment as soon as possible, but didn't mention Oliver again.

* * *

When the sun was about to set soon, Chloe had finished her list of things, which she still needed for the house and herself.

Her clothes had already found their new home in the closet, but it still looked poorly equipped. She had to buy a few things.

For some short moments the source of the money came into her mind, but she quickly dismissed the thought. If everything went as planned, she would be able to pay it back soon.

She grabbed a light coat and went down the street to head for a little store near the town center. Hopefully it hadn't closed yet.

* * *

After she had bought some basic supplies for the new household, she hurried back to her house, carrying a brown paper bag. She wanted to be inside before dark so she quickened her pace.

Unfortunately, her view was partially blocked by the big bag in her arms. Suddenly something hard came in the way and made Chloe stumble. Panic gripped her heart as she swung around. The bag fell on the ground. Instinctively she lifted her arms to block the attack. But it didn't come.

Instead a man looked down on her with a quite peculiar look on his face. He didn't seem dangerous though he was tall. But prudence was still the better part of valor.

"_What are you doing here? What do you want?" _Chloe asked cautiously.

"_Uh… I live here?"_ He pointed at the house next to hers. _"And I was about to lock the gate, when you nearly knocked me over! It was only a little mishap, so technically there's no need to threaten me, I'm not gonna hurt you." _His smile was genuine and finally Chloe lowered her fists.

"_I'm sorry. I just moved here from a large city. I automatically expect the worst to happen, when I bump into someone."_ Oh great. It was only her first day and yet she had made a fool of herself. Way to make an impression, Chloe!

"_Don't worry! In fact, I think I have to apologize for scaring you!"_ he stated and wove it aside. With one smooth motion he bent down and began to pick up the goods that had rolled or fallen out of the bag. Chloe joined him and in no time he handed her the groceries.

"_Thank you! And again … I'm sorry!"_ She babbled._  
_

"_You're welcome! That's what neighbors are here for, right? We protect and serve, like the police, but apparently we also scare the hell out of others!"_

He smiled again and this time Chloe smiled right back. He showed his white teeth and pushed back one strand of dark hair, which had fallen into his eyes.

"_I must have forgotten my good manners!"_ He put his hand forth. _" I'm Matt!"_

Chloe changed the bag to her other arm and shook the man's hand._ "Hi Matt, I'm Chl… Catherine!"_

For one awkward moment they stood there in silence.

"_Alright, I'll take my leave now, because some of the things in there are starting to freeze my fingers! Goodnight, Matt! It was nice to meet you!"_

"_You're a bad liar, but thank you! Have a good night too!"_ He turned and slowly strolled down the street.

Chloe rushed inside and locked the door. She was so distracted by her cold hands that she didn't notice that the man turned around and watched her briefly, before he continued his way.

* * *

That's it for now, thank your for reading! I hope I'll get some more comments than last time! ;) I'd love that...

Best wishes Honey


	6. Sleepwalker

Title: Northern Lights

Author: Honey 1005

Summary: Takes place after the events of checkmate.

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent

Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones (in future chapters)

Rating: M

Genre: Romance/Drama; Hurt/Comfort

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

Here comes the next chapter of my story and I'm really glad that I only needed about two weeks to update this time.

For those, who waited a long time: There are two Chlollie scenes in this chapter, but don't expect them to be the usual. That's it from my point, I'll just sit here and keep waiting for your reviews!:)

Best wishes Honey

* * *

**Chapter 6 or Sleepwalker**

_"I can't turn this around_

_I keep running into walls that I can't break down_

_I said I wander around_

_with my eyes wide shut because of you_

_I'm a sleepwalker_

_I'm a sleepwalker_

_Let me out of this dream_

_Everywhere that I go_

_I see another memory_

_And all the places we used to know_

_They're always there to haunt me_

_I walk around I feel so lost and lonely_

_You're everything that I want,_

_But you don't want me."_ Adam Lambert – Sleepwalker

* * *

He had the painkillers ready on the bedside table, waiting to be swallowed in the morning. One more day beginning with a headache.

There had been quite a string of them lately, but Oliver didn't bother to count. Counting them would mean counting the days since Chloe had run away. Since then he had been working in his office at the most unbelievable hours and the periods of work were getting longer with every day that passed. When Oliver came home at night or in the morning he either literally fell into bed, or went out on patrol as long as he managed to walk upright.

And he liked it that way, because otherwise he couldn't get around noticing the emptiness in his apartment, knowing it would stay this way.

There wouldn't be a little blonde sneaking in after dark to avoid mostly paparazzi, but also the other team members. No ranting in the mornings when there was no coffee left in the kitchen cabinet and also no happy sigh when he had already been up, ready and dressed, and had gotten her an almond mocha latte with brown sugar, before he left for work.

That was part of the problem, the memories, which lingered everywhere in the apartment. Not all of them had to do with sex, though the two of them had been pretty active in that part of their non – relationship too.

And God knew, not all of the memories were positive ones.

When Oliver looked at his glass desk with his own private computer and some of the other utensils there, to work at some hero business, his first phone conversation with Chloe entered his mind. He had needed some background info about a warehouse just outside the city, probably connected to 33.1 projects.

Problem was, he had reached a dead end with his technical knowledge and Victor had been out of the country and not been able to give back-up.

This was the first time Oliver tried to persuade Chloe to work with him.

As always with Chloe it had turned out not to be that easy to convince her.

* * *

_Three years earlier, Clocktower, Metropolis_

Oliver had been sitting in front of the computer for hours now and rubbed his tired eyes as he paced in front of his desk. He shot an impatient glance at the monitor where Victor's face flickered up from time to time.

"_Are you telling me that you can't get into the mainframe of that damn computer? What is the purpose of having your system updated on a regular basis, when you can't even get me the info out of one silly computer?"_ A yawn made his rant sound less aggressive than he intended it to.

"_This … nothing … do… updates, … reception!"_ The fragmented answer came right back.

Damn, why the hell had Victor have to be at Cap Horn right now? Because you sent him there, genius!

Oliver suddenly wanted to slap himself and let out some cuss words instead.

Originally, he had planned to take a closer look at the suspicious building on his own, but he needed the security and alarm information beforehand.

Only he couldn't cope with those high level security standards with dozens of firewalls just with his own hacking skill.

He saw Vic smirking on screen and though he only understood the one word _"help"_ of the things he said, it was clear what he was talking about. _"I'm afraid so!"_ he mumbled and waved his goodbye to his teammate, before he ended their conversation.

There was only one person having enough talent to handle this. Clark Kent's dainty blonde sidekick.

He picked up the phone. _"Chloe Sullivan, Kansas, Smallville. – Yes, I'll wait!"_

The dialing tone resounded from the speaker. Just as Oliver wanted to hang up, a very sleepy voice answered.

"_Mhm… Hello?"_

"_I know it's late, Chloe, but I need your help!"_

"_Clark, is that you?" _

"_This is Oliver Queen…"_

"_Have you any idea what time it is?"  
_

Damn, he probably should have waited till the next day. She sounded really mad.

"_It's three a.m. and let me tell you that I'm certainly not in the mood to be conned by some jerk calling in the middle of the night posing as bachelor billionaire boy! Oliver Queen, my ass!"_

Oliver was so stunned that he wasn't able to retort anything for a moment.

He heard the familiar click next to his ear. Well, that was interesting. She had hung up on him.

A thing, which hadn't happened to him since, ah well never before.

Though this might have to do with the fact that he avoided to call women, who would probably hang up on him. Like Lois for example.

Until now he had kept his visit to Metropolis low profile, because he didn't want to get Lois hurt hearing he was in town without informing her.

On the other hand she might as well feel tempted to cut his balls off for treating her like he did in their relationship. For one moment he thought if he was crazy to try to have his ex's cousin work with him. She'd probably tell him to fuck off, what she had basically done anyway, but he just couldn't resist to give it another try.

Of course, he could wait until Vic would be back in a few days, but he hadn't planned on staying this long. With every day he was staying the possibility to run into Lois Lane increased.

And though Oliver Queen might be a man with little patience, he also liked the challenge of changing a woman's mind. Even though it had nothing to do with getting laid in this particular case.

He chose to go to bed for now. There was a visit he had to pay to a certain reporter the next day.

* * *

_Present day, Luthercorp. Headquaters, Metropolis_

Oliver had practically fled the apartment as the memory came floating back to him. He hurried to his office, where his secretary told him that he had a visitor. His heart jumped at the thought it might be Chloe, but he quickly dismissed the chance of it. Instead of his lover, her cousin sat in his office chair, feet on his desk, playing weird games with a lock of her hair.

Maybe he had recognized she looked quite sexy, if he hadn't been worn out like that.

"_Lois, when I said you could come here anytime, I didn't mean you to take that literally, you know!"_

"_Your lovely vestibule-lady seems to share your opinion!"_ She grinned lightly.

"_Would you please stop insulting my secretary and tell me what you want?" _Oliver's brows furrowed and he waited for the things to come. He was in for a surprise.

Lois cleared her throat and pulled a face before she spoke up. _"As our last meeting didn't end very pleasant I thought I owe you an apology!"_

Though he was slightly startled by her sudden change of mind he kept up his guard. _"Accepted! No need to come here for that! Now would you take your feet off my table, sometimes I actually need it for work!"_

"_Don't sell yourself short, I've known for a long time that you're not the shallow playboy you seem to impersonate at times!"_ she scoffed and stood up to reduce the height difference. She hated it when he looked down on her during a quarrel.

He gave in._ "What are you really here for, Lois?"_

"_What are you doing to find my cousin?"_Her tone grew more aggressive.

Oliver's jaw tensed for a second. _"Though I don't think she wants to be found and has probably done about everything to eliminate this possibility, I have some people working on it!"_

"_That's the best you got, some people? I hope they're worth your trust!"_ Lois shot back.

"_They're the best I got! And what else should I do? Place myself in front of a microphone and do a ridiculously sappy speech to beg her to come back to me? We were involved, so what? It's not like we were really dating or something!"_

"_You're not fooling me, I know that you care about Chloe a lot more than you're pretending to, and believe me , your trust issues are not comparable to Chloe's, when it comes to men."_

"_Let me tell you that I don't have any trust issues, when it comes to men!"_ he joked weakly.

"_Really, Oliver? A joke is the best reaction you got, about the problems that you had with Chloe?"_ Lois pouted.

"_Trust was her problem, not mine! I hate to blow your crazy ideas, but I really don't know what it was that made her leave!"_

"_What about your little green secret? Maybe she thought you were sleeping around, because you never have time?"_ She offered.

"_First, I made time for her, whenever I could and second there was no secret on my side!"_He had felt offended so he barked it out without thinking.

"_Uh, uh! You told her your secret and you don't think that was a little bit too much for her, so she left to clear her thoughts?"_ When Oliver looked like he was about to strangle her she shrugged. _"Just saying!"_

"_Chloe would have to be a very slow burn, if it had taken her till now to let that thought enter her mind!"_

"_What do are you talking about?"_ Lois was getting really confused by now. Not only had Oliver admitted that he made time especially for Chloe, which had shown that he cared a lot more than she thought, but it also surprised her that Chloe had obviously known about his secret persona and not mentioned it to her in the slightest way.

"_Look, Chloe had known the truth about Green Arrow for a long time now. Actually she knew before you did!"_

Lois mouth dropped open. _"What?"_

Oliver leaned against his desk and ducked his head._"Yeah, she somehow figured it out, when you and I had just begun dating!"_

Finally it dawned on her. _"Oh my god! That's why! She wasn't working for you in some of your technical departments, was she?"_

Oliver smiled as he shook his head. _"That's what she told you?"_ He chuckled. _"No, she was working with me all the time."_

Lois plopped down on the office chair again. _"I know you won't tell me, what the Green Arrow is working on at the moment. But if Chloe thought she was in immediate danger, she might have taken the only way out, she could think of. "_

Maybe he had taken her disappearance too personal and it wasn't all about him, but about the lives they were leading. Lois said something that made him look up again.

"_As a teenager, she once even faked her and her father's death, when Lionel Luthor kept coming after them! Chloe doesn't have any limits, when she needs to save people she loves!"_

"_I didn't know about that, I mean that she faked her death… She never told me." _

It made him sick, that Chloe had been confronted with things and people endangering her life at this young age, even now he couldn't stand the thought of her being in danger. He couldn't even blame her, if she had chosen to leave this life behind, but his gut twisted at the thought of it. Did she think their fight against injustice was hopeless? If she didn't want to be found should he stop searching for her for purely selfish reasons and rather let her living the life she deserved. The life he had wanted to give her sometime, without crazy aliens threatening to destroy or overtake the world.

After some moments Lois realized that he was lost in thought and chose to leave. The door closed quietly behind her. Her own researches on Chloe's whereabouts had come back negative so far. Hopefully Oliver's people would have more success.

* * *

A knock on the door pulled Oliver out of his thoughts. _"Yes?"_

"_Excuse me, Mr. Queen!"_ Helen came in with an envelope in her hand giving it to him. _"I just wanted to ask if you were joining the Luthorcorp. Charity dinner this weekend at the Plaza or if I should cancel for you." _

_"Cancelling won't be necessary, I think getting out will do me good."_

Helen nodded and allowed herself a little personal comment before she left. _"You have been working too much lately, Sir!"_

* * *

He didn't recognize the room he found himself in. It made him feel strange. There seemed to be a few things that looked familiar somehow, like the green glass vase in the corner or the big modern orange couch on the other side of the room. They were normally to be found in the loft in the Clocktower, but this apartment was different. It was a lot smaller. Even as he had taken a closer look-around there was no door to be seen, and there was just one window in the whole room. Oliver made a few paces to reach the window to get an idea where he was, but the only thing outside was the sky. At least it seemed to be the sky, because there was no blue space to be seen, neither was the sun. The space was full of heavy clouds in colors ranging from dark blue to nearly black and some even looked violet. They turned, swirled and changed their forms and colors with hypnotizing speed and mesmerized their observer. Oliver was so caught up in this marvelous play of colors that he was honestly startled as someone suddenly spoke up behind him.

"_What are you hoping to find outside, when everything you need is right in here?"_

Oliver spun on his heels and his mouth fell open in utter surprise as he her. Chloe was standing there, just a few inches away. If he reached out with his fingers he would be able to touch her, but he didn't dare to try.

"_Where have you been? Why did you leave me like that?"_ The words of silent reproach formed in his head before any other clear thought. It was the only thing he needed to know. Nothing else mattered right now.

"_What are you talking about? I've always been here. Here with you!"_ Chloe answered questioningly and came closer. She reached out to touch Oliver. The unknowing and innocent tone in her voice confused him. What was going on?

As her hand curled up in his hair, she looked worried. _"Maybe you've been working too much lately? Got so exhausted and confused to think that I would ever leave you? Luckily, I know exactly how to distract you!"_

"_You sure do!"_ he replied. The sweet tone in her voice lulled him into a more relaxed state and all of a sudden he had forgotten, why he was mad with her. He was so charmed by the lovely smile forming on her face, that he totally blanked out that Chloe had been able to answer his question though he had never actually spoken the words.

Teasingly she pulled at some of the strands of hair in between her fingers to get Oliver to bend down to her level. Then she entwined her arms around his neck and kissed him fiercely. Slowly she pulled him closer and closer. At first all the nerves in his body seemed to be burning under the touch of her hot tongue, but then oxygen was pressed out of Oliver's lungs, when Chloe clung to him so tightly that it began to hurt. Oliver opened his eyes and tried to pull away with all might at the sight of the scene in front of him.

It wasn't Chloe anymore, who held him with the power of a steel wrench. Her eyes had turned into a bloody red, the face was deformed and tendrils shot out of her body and encircled Oliver's neck. The strangling of his trachea and the fear of suffocating made him choke. His vision became blurry and he felt sick as he tried to get some air. Filled with panic Oliver tried to free himself from her torturing hold. He didn't have a chance. For some ery long moments he felt like he was falling, but then everything went black around him.

* * *

Oliver found himself naked and face down on the hardwood floor of his Clocktower apartment. He was in his living room and had somehow managed to get so tightly wrapped up in one of the blankets that he had struggled to breathe and must have fallen from the couch in a reaction of panic. Hastily he freed himself, but tripped over the empty bottles of Scotch and Merlot and hit his knee on the coffee table. _"FUCKING HELL!"_

The damn sun stung in his eyes, because all the curtains were wide open. Oliver cursed heavily. His head was burning from the hangover and the tongue in his mouth felt like a furry little animal.

Oliver tried to banish the sick feeling in his stomach with a few deeps breaths, but it only got worse. The way to the bathroom was too long, he only made it to kitchen sink, before he puked his guts out. Pain medication and booze obviously made a hell of a combination. Hangover and nightmares, great. Shivering in cold sweat he sank down on the floor and groaned as the cold tiles came in contact with his cheek. The last time he had felt this bad he had just learned that Lionel Luther was responsible for the death of his parents. In this embarrassing moment of weakness Oliver decided that no woman in the whole world was worth it to get him to feel like this again.

Chloe had walked out on the team and their fight for justice at a critical point. The team couldn't use a leader, who was spending his time getting plastered and wasted. He couldn't lie on the floor and wallow in self pity like a wimp. That wasn't his way to behave, not anymore.

He pulled himself up and flushed the remains of his mess down the drain. There were people he was responsible for. People, who counted on him. He wouldn't walk out on them, because _he_ had a sense of responsibility.

The little screeching sound of a door to his left side made his hair stay on end.

"_Ollie, have you seen my panties? I can't find them!"_ said the girl, who had appeared in the door frame of his bathroom. The only piece of cloth that covered her voluptuous body was the shirt he vaguely remembered to have worn at the Charity dinner the day before.

* * *

Please leave a review!


	7. I'm With You

Title: Northern Lights

Author: Honey 1005

Summary: Takes place after the events of checkmate.

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent

Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones

Rating: M

Genre: Romance/Drama; Hurt/Comfort

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

* * *

I think this is the longest chapter I've written so far, and I hope you enjoy it!

There are some Clois scenes in this one. Nothin special, but I wanted to show how they're coping. Clark is slowly letting down his guard and Lois - what a surprise already gets an idea that there is more than one secret still to be discovered.

For everyone, who wanted to know how Oliver finally conviced Chloe to work with him: You're going to find out!

I hope you have fun and let me know how you like it!

Best wishes

* * *

**Chapter 7 or I'm With You**

_"I'm looking for a place_  
_I'm searching for a face_  
_Is anybody here I know_  
_'Cause nothing's going right_  
_And everything's a mess_  
_And no one likes to be alone_

_Isn't anyone trying to find me?_  
_Won't somebody come take me home_  
_It's a damn cold night_  
_Trying to figure out this life_  
_Won't you take me by the hand_  
_Take me somewhere new_  
_I don't know who you are_  
_But I... I'm with you_  
_I'm with you."_ Avril Lavigne – I'm With You

* * *

Lois Lane stood in the kitchenette of the Talon apartment, which wasn't unusual per se, but what she was doing clearly was.

Wearing a kitchen apron with some crazy looking cartoon chicken and the obligatory "kiss-the-cook-" – writing on it, she had actually started to cook a meal all by herself.

Not that she hadn't done it before, but she wasn't really a crack when it came to rattling the pots and pans. Only this time it was different.

She'd been uneasy the whole day, or more honestly already since Chloe had gone.

But just today she had reached the point, at which she couldn't take it anymore to go to work, then come home, do some housework and go to bed.

The routine made her crazy, since she could only stand at the sideline and hope that Oliver really did his best to find Chloe.

Lois had needed something to keep her occupied to avoid going up the walls until Clark would arrive. He had promised her the day before to ask Oliver if there were any news concerning Chloe's whereabouts.

Lois didn't want to bother him too often once a week, but Clark was an adoptable substitute.

And maybe, just maybe Oliver might tell him something more.

They both were guys after all, that had to be worth something at this point.

And because she couldn't be prying over her boyfriend's shoulder without freaking him out, Lois had needed something to do.

It had been clearly too early to drink, she hadn't been relaxed enough for a book and she also hadn't want to go jogging, because it was raining heavily outside.

At least Clark would have a nice meal waiting for him, when he came. She pulled the pan with the nearly too done cutlet away from the stovetop. _"Damn!"_ Lois only hoped she wouldn't burn it due to her wandering thoughts. She took the sour cream from the fridge, dug into the cabinet and then started to compound the pepper sauce for the meat.

About a minute later someone knocked at the door.

"_Clark?"_ Lois called out and kept on stirring the creamy liquid. _"The door is open, just come in."_

A very wet version of Clark Kent appeared in the doorframe. He put on a serious face. _"How many times have I told you to lock the door, when you're alone?"_

"_I stopped counting after the eighth time or so, but may I remind you, that the lock isn't even close to high security and that everyone could manage to get in…"_

Clark pouted. _"Still, I don't want you to be here alone and unprotected! It's enough that one of the Lane-Sullivan women is missing!"_

"_Overreact much, Smallville? Chloe's disappearance is really getting the best of you, isn't it?"_

Clark didn't answer directly, but instead hugged her from behind and softly kissed his girlfriend's ear._ "We still don't know what happened. I don't wanna risk your safety, Lois!"_

For this time Lois gave Clark his head, though she still pulled away after a few seconds. _"Eww, you're soaked! Get a quick shower and something dry to wear. Dinner's ready in three!"_

Clark disappeared into the bathroom. As the water was turned on, she could hear him calling out to hear. _"Like your outfit, by the way! This whole housewifely- cottage style suits you"_. For one moment Lois felt tempted to get in there and pull the toilet flush just for fun, but she reconsidered. There were more important things to take care of.

When Clark came back Lois was already sitting at the table, two steaming plates in front of her.

"_Mhm… that smells delicious! I didn't even know you can cook."_

"_Yeah, even I got some hidden talents! So spill, what's new?"_ she asked impatiently.

Clark chewed on his first bite a little bit longer than necessary, deciding whether to tell Lois about the nearly naked girl he had seen through the window in Oliver's loft or not.

After that he'd vanished again, so technically there wasn't anything he could report than Oliver falling off the wagon again.

He chose to let it slip, because otherwise there would be too much to explain and also Lois had just apologized to Oliver and Clark didn't want to be the one to ruin that.

"_Nothing really, I'm sorry! I wished that I could tell you something new!"_

Lois absentmindedly pierced a baby carrot on her fork. _"You think Oliver's people are as good as he says? I mean, I know he wants to find Chloe, and if only to kick her butt for leaving him, but what if those freaks he is paying have no clue of anything?"_

_I don't think Oliver would let anyone clueless take care of something this important, Lois!"_ Clark noted.

"_I know, I know, but right now, Oliver's knowledge of human nature might be a little biased."_ She sounded worried.

Clark coughed. _"Don't worry, Victor and John are probably the best men you could ever find for this job."_

The very moment he had said those words, he knew that he had made a mistake.

Suddenly Lois' eyes glowed with excitement and a hint of something else. Suspiciousness, maybe? _"You know that guys?"_

"_Barely. Met them once or twice."_ Clark mumbled and tried to concentrate on the remains of his meat, which was a little bit hard bitten.

"_We gotta go see them!"_ Lois decided with a finality that made Clark give up any emergency loophole plan he had begun to formulate in his mind.

"_Good, I'll take you there when we have finished our meal. I just need to make some calls beforehand!" _He texted Victor to make sure that there weren't any traitorous documents or security footages lying around and also John to inform the others that they should stay out of Watchtower this evening.

* * *

It had been five days now, since Chloe had started her job as the new librarian in the little city of Athabasca.

Just when her job interview had started there had been a computer problem out of nowhere.

Secretly, Chloe knew that Lana might have had something to do with it, but she hadn't had a chance to ask her yet.

Lana had left for Asia to train in the Himalaya with some guru to reach higher levels in her mind or something.

However, that little virus hadn't been a real challenge, but fair enough it had gotten her the job.

It wasn't bad, but just really boring sometimes.

Not comparable to playing the guardian angel for the League, when on missions.

Scanning the books for the daily visitors, preventing kids from eating and drinking near the books took up most of her time.

The rest of the hours she spent pretending to listen to her co-worker and supervisor Kelly, who had turned out to be a real tattletale.

Either she asked Chloe questions about her life, like what she had done before coming here and more importantly, why she moved here – or she was gossiping about people Chloe hadn't even met yet. But the best thing about Kelly was that she didn't expect an answer, she just kept on talking.

"_Did you already take a look on the new magazines that came in today?"_ she asked, running over the pages of one of them.

"_Mhm.."_ Chloe nodded, though she hadn't. And she wouldn't call those papers magazines either, they were just tabloids.

"_He is such a cutie, too bad he's such a ladies' man!"_

Not caring, who her colleague was talking about, Chloe scanned two books for a little boy and smiled at him friendly, when he stowed them into his backpack. In some months she'd have a child of her own.

A quick glance on her watch told her that she had only another fifteen minutes to work before her doctor's appointment.

When a shadow fell over her, Kelly suddenly stopped talking.

"_Sticking your nose again into business of people you don't even know, Kelly?" _a familiar voice taunted.

Chloe looked up from the screen only to see her neighbor and the sheepish smile he had caused on her co-worker's face.

"_I heard you were working here, Cathy. Thought I'd pay you a visit, see how you're doing."_ Matt smiled as he turned his attention to Chloe.

Chloe was honestly confused. _"Oh, well… I'm fine, I suppose."_

"_That's good! I was just dropping by on the way to the bar to pick Kelly up, we have to pay-off old scores concerning a pool match last week, but I'm a little early!"_

Kelly took her bag out from under the counter and stood up. _"Cathy, you wouldn't mind locking the door, after you left, would you?"_

Matt clicked his tongue. He was looking uncomfortable. _"Why don't we wait another five minutes? That way Cathy could join us, get to know some people and stuff?" _he suggested, just as Kelly reached out for her jacket. She missed it. _"Sure, why not. You can come with us, Cathy."_ Maybe she tried to sound genuine, but she didn't.

Chloe shook her head. _"Thank you, but I already got plans for the evening. Don't worry, I'll lock up."_

As the two left, Kelly seemed to be quite happy with herself, though she pulled a face, when Matt turned around. _"Maybe next time!"_

"_Maybe! Have fun you two!"_

Chloe used the last minutes to close down the computer programs.

When she switched off the monitors she looked at the tabloid Kelly had left open on her keyboard. She closed it and wanted to store it away, where it belonged, as she caught a glimpse of the cover.

She threw it on the next shelf as if she had burnt her fingers and hurried out of the library.

Luckily she still thought of locking the doors.

In her car Chloe took a deep breath.

She needed to focus on her appointment. Not on some stupid headline.

But until she arrived at the parking lot of Dr. Nexon, the words wouldn't leave her mind alone.

**"Billionaire Back to Booze and Bimbos"**

The so-called journalist, who had written the piece, obviously had a flaw for alliterations.

It wasn't the words, which made her heart tremble, it was the pictures of a seemingly drunken Ollie groping an acting starlet's ass in front of the entrance of the Clocktower.

Words might be untrue, but pictures just couldn't lie.

Another snapshot showed them entering the building.

Chloe cursed herself for being overly touchy about a man, she had dumped.

Working in a library meant being surrounded by the newest media all day. Probably it wasn't a good idea after all.

* * *

At the reception she gave her fake name and sat down to wait.

Somehow it shocked her that she had grown accustomed to use it very easily during the last week.

She had always thought that it would be more difficult to give up her own identity, though she had to admit that she hadn't been very social since she had arrived in Athabasca.

The people at the store, the gas station and every other public building had watched her with such an amount of curiosity that it had freaked her out.

The visits from Lana and working with the gossip queen of Alberta were her only social contacts, which made her look awfully lonely.

_"What did you expect from moving into a new town?" _she asked herself.

She should've given it at least a thought that it might be difficult to get a fresh start.

But her panic kept her from thinking about anything other than getting away as quickly as possible. And now she started to think that she ought to have known better from the beginning. The sheer thought of the reaction from Oliver, when she would get back now, scared her more than anything else.

They had faced a lot of rough patches in their friendship, but somehow they had always managed to work it out over some time. Chloe herself had always been the one to apologize with great gestures and words – which mostly worked with him – while Oliver had had to learn that his money wouldn't get him anywhere with Chloe. She smiled sadly when she remembered how Oliver had tried to bias her into working for him.

* * *

_Three years earlier, Daily Planet, Metropolis_

Chloe was still angry with the nocturnal caller, who had ruined her night. Then the coffee stand in front of the planet had been closed for unknown reasons. It couldn't get any worse than that.

Chloe switched on her computer and sighed. Maybe she should take a cup of the filter coffee.

"_Delivery for Chloe Sullivan!"_ a bike courier called out at the entrance. He handed her a parcel and took his leave. There was a note on it. _"I heard you like good coffee! O.Q."_

Oh, no! It wasn't enough that he had ruined her sleep this freak was stalking her now.

She ripped the package open and let out a little squeak. It was a package of Sidamo – coffee, which was grown exclusively in only one province of Ethiopia. Another note. _"It is said to have an aroma like heavy wine or chocolate. If you're in a better mood than last night, I'm waiting for you outside the building! O.Q."_

Chloe turned the card in her hand and thought about calling Clark to take care of this freak. But he wasn't there yet, which meant that he had probably more urgent things to do at the moment. Like saving someone from getting robbed. She had to do this on her own.

Chloe grabbed her bag with the Taser and pepper spray and went outside.

There wasn't anyone waiting. All people hurried to get to work.

Suddenly a black Limousine stopped at the corner. The chauffeur opened the backdoor and looked at her observantly.

It was curiosity, which made her legs move. A hand shot out of nowhere and pulled her into the car.

The door was shut behind her and Chloe had her Taser ready to zap her attacker.

It was Oliver Queen, who held his hands up in defense. Chloe lowered the Taser.

"_You know it's a criminal assault to use this thing on people without permission!"_ he asked ironically.

"_Not if it's self defense from a lunatic, who calls at 3 a.m. and the tries to kidnap me the next day!"_ Chloe retorted.

"_Hm…My word against yours. That could be interesting."_ He honestly had the nerves to smirk at her.

She suppressed the urge to slap him and asked instead: _"What do you want? It must be quite important, when you're pulling such an act and risk to be discovered by Mad Dog Lane! I wonder if I should call her to break the news…!"_

"_I preferred if you didn't call Lois."_ He was obviously uncomfortable. _"As I mentioned already last night, I need your help! Computerwise!"_

"_I got that! And you really think you could bribe me with coffee?"_

His head shot up. _"I'd also sponsor the newest equipment for you!"_

Chloe shook her head. _"Don't get me wrong. I'm keeping this roasted treasure, but that doesn't mean I'm going to help you."_

She carried on. _"And contrary to your obvious belief, I got other obligations like all normal people do. You know, a job and these things. Maybe you won't understand this, but let me assure you that a simple package of coffee and some technical devices don't help appeasing a woman, who didn't get any sleep the other night just because of you!"_

With that she yanked the door open and climbed out of the car.

Oliver ran after her and gripped her hand.

Some people were watching as he chased Chloe over the pavement.

_"Please, Chloe!"_The pleading look in his eyes and the hunch that he might not have begged someone for at least five years let her come around.

She grinned up at him malicously. _"It wasn't that difficult, was it? It didn't hurt, right? I mean to say please!" _she teased. Oliver frowned.

_"That was all I wanted to hear!"_ She freed herself and turned to go.

Just before she disappeared in the building, she looked back over her shoulder. _"Send me the information I need. I'll contact you after work!"_

Chloe had rendered Star City's most eligible bachelor speechless. Now they were even. And suddenly her day was so much better.

* * *

_Present Day, Metropolis_

The dark silhouette of Watchtower nearly seemed to mingle with the dim cloudy sky. Only the rose window that belonged to the last floor was ablazed with light and prevented the building to be completely swallowed by the night.

Lois looked up to the penthouse and followed reluctantly as Clark pulled her inside.

While they went up with the elevator Lois nudged Clark into the side with one elbow. _"You're telling me that this is like the outsourced Queen Industries technical department? Since when are these computer – thingies situated in private apartment buildings?"_

Obviously Clark knew more about Oliver and his leisure time occupation as a hero than she had thought. And he was playing dumb with her.

"_Since a certain billionaire's girlfriend/employee vanished into thin air and he wants to find her without any media coverage!"_ He lied smoothly. There had been no time or point in preparing a fake operation center only to trick Lois. It had been time to lower the shield a little bit.

Clark knew that Lois missed Chloe badly and it didn't seem fair to keep her completely out of the loop, especially if he wanted to avoid her from sticking her nose into some of the more critical projects Chloe had been working on.

Nevertheless they needed to be very careful about slipping details. Blowing the team's cover was the last thing on Clark's mind.

"_Yeah, right!"_ Lois scoffed.

Clark didn't have time to answer, because they had reached the apartment doors.

He quickly knocked to warn Victor and John before he held the door open.

"_Welcome to the newly established operational center to find Chloe Sullivan, welcome to Watchtower!"_

Lois stepped inside and when Clark followed straight behind her nearly bumped into her as she had stopped right behind the door, frozen with amazement because of the dozens of blinking screens and beeping computers.

Oliver must have coughed up a few Grand for this.

The hand on her shoulder let her focus.

"_John, Victor - Meet Lois Lane!"_

John put some papers away on a desk and came to shake hands with Lois and Clark.

_"Good to meet you! I'm John Jones, the source within the Metropolis police department!" _He introduced himself in a rather formal way.

_"Clark! Good to see you too!" _Clark nodded. _"John!"_

Victor gave the computers a little rest and joined them. _"I've heard so much about you! I'm Victor Stone, but you can call me Vic!"_

"_Hi!"_ Lois answered a little bit startled. _"Nice to meet you too. Though I can't say I've ever heard of you before!"_

Something dawned on Lois and she held Victor's hand longer than necessary.

Apparently, Oliver hadn't only involved Chloe into his hero business. But she needed to be sure.

_"Were you a colleague of Chloe's at the QI technical department?" _

Victor didn't notice the trap and stepped right into it. _"Uh… kind of. We've been working together on occasion!"_

"_Well, that's interesting!"_

An alarm bell went off in Clark's head, so he quickly changed the subject.

"_You found anything already?"_

Victor answered first.

"_I went through the data left on Chloe's laptop. At least those parts, which weren't hopelessly shuddered, so to say. And let me tell you there weren't much of those!"_

"_Focus, please!"_ Clark said in a short tone that caused Lois to look at him curiously.

"_I found the confirmation for several reservations in Chloe's name or from her bank account. Flight bookings and Greyhound tickets. But honestly, I don't think this is going to lead us anywhere!"_

"_And why doesn't that help us?"_ Lois couldn't hold her tongue.

"_I think they're all set-ups. I found them way too easily!"_ he explained patiently.

"_Yet, let's sift through the surveillance systems of bus stations and airports!"_ Clark was as systematic as ever.

"_I think Clark is right! We need to be sure!"_ Det. Jones agreed. "_You take the Greyhound stations, Victor - I take care of the airports!"_ He pulled out his phone and went over to the window to talk in privacy, while Victor got back to the keyboard and had it clicking like crazy.

Clark brought Lois a chair and some water, but she was too distracted to appreciate the gesture.

"_Could you at least explain what you're doing? Sitting here like a dumbass without knowing what's going out makes me freak!"_ she said in a less than friendly tone.

"_Easy, Lois!"_ Clark scolded, but Vic just grinned. _"Chloe didn't exaggerate, when she described you!"_ He paused. _"There were ticket reservations for Vegas, Miami, Houston, Phoenix and Seattle!"_

Lois blew a whistle. _"That's my cuz!"_ she stated quite proudly.

"_Yep, always the thorough one!"_He acceded. _"I hack into one surveillance footage after another and see if I can see the least flicker of Chloe somewhere!"_

He let the video stream go fast forward, his eyes following every movement. Lois pointed at Clark, who was busy talking with Det. Jones and asked conspiratorially: _"He knows you're doing something illegal and he isn't nagging the hell out of you? How do you do that?"_

Victor pulled a funny face_. "Believe me, he had been nagging enough before that! But this is different!"_ The moment had passed and he was serious again.

The two others came back over and Det. Jones spoke up_. "I had a friend checking all the security cameras on the gates of the known flights. He used a investigational program which uses physical parameters to find people."_

"_Any luck?"_

He shook his head. _"Not yet! There are still some videos left to check, the program is still in its infancy, it needs time to work and there was quite a bunch of bookings!"_

"_Very elaborated for a setup, right?"_ Clark asked no one in particular. _"Expensive, mainly! All the tickets have been prepaid!"_ Victor stated absentmindedly.

"_Let me have a look at the destinations!"_ Lois piped in._ "I know, where Chloe wouldn't ever go in her life, so we might rule some of the flights out from the beginning."_

John handed her the list. _"London, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Munich and Cairo… Chloe wouldn't go anywhere, where people don't speak English! That leaves three cities…" _she mumbled.

Clark let her have her way, though he mused that Lois might not know her cousin even half as good as she imagined, considering the number of secrets Chloe harbored for him and Oliver! Lately she seemed to have some secrets of her own too.

"_Did you contact Carter?"_ Clark wanted to know from John. _"I texted him."_ He said, just as one monitor blinked with an incoming call.

The image of Carter Hall appeared on screen.

Clark was relieved that he didn't wear any of his usual accessories. John must've warned him.

"_There is no sign of Miss Sullivan anywhere around Cairo, but I will keep eyes and ears open!"_

"_Let us know, if you hear anything!"_

He nodded and ended the conversation without another word.

"_Not a man of many words, is he?"_ Lois asked and yawned.

Clark smiled. _"No, Carter likes to keep things short." _He looked at his watch. _"Let's head home, shall we? It's getting late!"_

"_But we haven't found anything yet! We can't go now!" _Lois protested.

"_Look, it doesn't help when you're dead on your feet. If you get your sleep, you might remember something important. And in the meantime Victor and John continue with their work!"_

"_If you say so! But I'll kick your butt, if we miss something, only because we're leaving now!"_

"_Threat noticed! Come on, let's go!"_

They said goodbye and returned to the Kent Farm.

"_Miss Lane has quite a personality!"_ John said as soon as Lois and Clark were out of sight.

"_My guess! She's Chloe's cousin!"_ was Victor's answer.

* * *

The gel for the ultrasound screening was so cold it gave Chloe goose bumps.

"_I'm sorry, it's cold. I should've warned you."_ Dr. Nexon apologized.

"_Now let's have a look at the little one, shall we?"_ She carefully placed the transducer on Chloe's abdomen.

After a little turning and searching, she pulled at the monitor to give her patient a better look. _"You see this?"_ Dr. Nexon pointed at the middle of the picture. _"The little thing looking like a kidney bean?" _Chloe asked incredulously. _"Yes, that's your baby!"_ Chloe blinked a few times to stop her watering eyes. _"Can you tell me already if it's a boy or a girl?"_

"_You are not that far along yet, approximately ten weeks. I don't want to tell you anything wrong, so we'll have to wait till the next ultrasound to find out the sex."_

"_And when will that be?"_

"_If there aren't any complications, the next one is scheduled to be in the 20th week. I give you a booklet, where the whole mother and child examination program is listed._

_Inside you find every appointment, some leads in pregnancy literature, in case you haven't got any yet."_ She handed Chloe a little folder.

"_What about vitamins or other dietary supplements?"_

"_Actually, I'm convinced that a healthy diet is much better than any supplements." _Dr. Nexon pulled out the results of Chloe's blood test. _"Everything looks fine so far, don't worry. Just keep coffee to a minimum and take it slowly!"_ she suggested. _"And if you need anything don't hesitate to call!"_

A few minutes later Chloe was sitting in her car and looked at the picture in her hand. Her gaze was full of affection. _"I can't believe you're in there!"_ She placed a hand on her abdomen._ "I'm going to protect you, no matter what!" _A single tear rolled from her cheek, but there was no one to see it, so she didn't care. _"Your daddy can't be with us, but I'll be there for you. Forever!"_

* * *

Good or bad? Please leave a review! :)

p.s.: I still haven't decided if the baby should be a girl or a boy! What do you think? Let me know...

Next chapter's title stands already: _"Remember the Name"_


	8. Remember the Name

**Chapter 8 or Remember the Name**

Title: Northern Lights

Author: Honey 1005

Summary: Chloe discovers that she's pregnant witch Oliver's child and runs without thinking. This story shows the consequences of her doing and how it affects her family and friends and also herself until they meet again rather unexpectedly. Includes Chlollie flashbacks/memories.

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent,

Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones

Rating: M

Genre: Romance/Drama; Hurt/Comfort

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

* * *

Hey, everybody! I'm sorry it took me so long to post this chapter, but I got held up by some mid-term exams and a major writer's block. About three quarters of the chapter were ready in a few hours, but I wasn't able to finish the last part for a long time. Please accept my apologies! :)

I hope it was worth the wait.

best wishes

* * *

_"This is ten percent luck_  
_Twenty percent skill_  
_Fifteen percent concentrated power of will_  
_Five percent pleasure_  
_Fifty percent pain_  
_And a hundred percent reason to remember the name"_

Fort Minor – Remember the Name

* * *

"_I give you my money! Just take the purse, but please don't hurt me!"_

The cold blade against her heavily pumping aorta let the woman stop dead in her tracks, and she tried to think of a possibility how to get away from her attacker. Her mind raced and she realized in horror that the can with pepper spray was lying at the bottom of her bag, which the thief already had in his dirty fingers. Those fingers, which were awfully slowly moving up her thigh and taking the hem of her skirt with them. She cried out in sheer terror.

"_Let's see about that, sweetheart!"_

"_I don't think so!"_ A dark voice answered over their heads. The robber looked up only to see a hooded face with dark glasses and growled.

_"Metropolis' green boy wonder!"_

The tall leather clad man above ignored the comment. Instead he used a zip-line to lower himself to the ground. His heavy boots connected with the asphalt a moment later.

"_You better let the lady go, before somebody gets seriously hurt."_

The Green Arrow showed his teeth in a rather cocky smile and had his crossbow aimed and ready to fire.

"_And by somebody I mean you!"_

He noticed that the guy in front of him was intimidated, but not ready to give in yet. Damn, he'd thought this one could be easy. But no, this had to be a stubborn criminal.

"_One false move and her throat is wide open."_ The man moved the knife and a droplet of blood appeared on his victim's neck. The woman yelped helplessly. _"Shut up, bitch!"_

That bastard. Oliver's mind raced. It was too dangerous to shoot him, he might still hurt the woman, because Oliver had already blown the moment of surprise.

The siren of a police car driving by in a parallel street helped him out of his dilemma. The robber lost his focus as his eyes quickly glanced at the police car. Oliver dashed forward.

With one hand he pressed the knife away from the woman and pushed her out of the way with the other. He knocked the criminal over and they fell on the ground together. The man aimed at Oliver's head, but he managed to quickly duck and raise his right knee.

The outcry of his opponent told him that he had hit just the right spot. At the same time he had to swear on his own, because the damn bastard had hit his nose with an elbow.

_"You got lucky, but just this one time!"_ Oliver announced angrily, before his fist connected with the guy's jaw. The thug's blood- shot eyes rolled to the back of his head, when he slumped down and lost his conscience.

Oliver stood and wiped his hands at his pants as if he had touched something dirty. Then he reached out to the woman kneeling on the street still frozen in shock.

"_It's over, he can't hurt you anymore!"_ He pulled the shivering woman to her feet.

"_Are you okay?"_ She nodded slowly. Her eyes darted to the unconscious man_. "Y… yes, I think… I'm alright."_ The sirens came closer and the lights of the nearing police car were thrown back by the walls.

"_That's my cue to leave! Better stay away from those streets after dark!"_

With that he shot a zip-line to the highest story of the neighbor building and was lifted through the air the next second, just as the officers arrived and practically jumped out of their cart. Someone should sponsor new cars for Metropolis' crime fighters.

No wonder they needed help, when they were dependent on these piles of scrap. Maybe they needed a donation from Queen Industries, anonymously of course.

Oliver chuckled as he crossed the roofs.

* * *

At first he hadn't intended to go on patrol this night, but when he had decided to pay someone a visit, he thought that he might as well do it as the Green Arrow.

This way he could make sure that no paparazzi would follow him around and might wonder what Oliver Queen was looking for in one of the areas with the highest crime rates in the whole city.

Because of the raised media interest in him during the last weeks he hadn't been able to make one step without at least one photographer with a death wish at his heels.

Thanks to way too much alcohol and Christy – Sue Rodgers, who had turned out to be the girl without panties and who - by the way - was perfectly fine with all the media attention that she was able to get out of the snapshots, where Oliver was shown groping her ass and sticking his tongue down her throat.

Never underestimate the tactical sense of a woman, who needs the promotion for her role in some second-class slasher-movie.

One of the few things he recalled from that unfortunate night was that her vocal chords must have had been trained during the production of said horror film, because his poor tortured ears had been ringing. A faint memory of calling out Chloe's name, while he was screwing the nother woman, crossed his mind and made him experience a new level of guilt. It was her fault. She left. He just needed to keep that idea.

And if all of those things weren't enough to make him feel disgusted with himself, there also was an interesting article in a tabloid, in which a self-claimed specialist analyzed, what issues led a successful businessman like Oliver Queen into sleeping and partying around like he did. Apparently he was a sex addict and a hedonist.

* * *

With all those things on his back, Oliver had rather chosen to make off as his masked self and had basically been jumping from roof to roof, as he had heard the woman's scream.

Now he was back on his direction and already could see that poor apartment complex that he had been looking for in this part of the city. To avoid leaving marks on the door he broke the window lock on the third floor instead and got in.

When he was in, he closed the window behind him and finally pulled back his hood. The flat was still empty and he knew that he should have about twenty minutes left. But maybe she was early today, so he had planned to arrive about half an hour sooner.

Knocking out that stupid bastard and getting away had nearly cost him ten minutes. Oliver carefully touched his nose and an aggressive roar escaped from his lungs. The nasal bone wasn't broken, yet it might shimmer in all shades from blue to yellow over the next week.

The reason he was waiting in the dark was a trading secret from Luthorcorp. that had been leaked for a notable sum. Victor had been able to follow the trace of the money.

At first it had been booked on the account of the inhabitant of the apartment he currently found himself in. It didn't seem important. Until Victor discovered a transfer of that exact sum to an unknown account on the Caymans only two days before Chloe's estimated disappearance that had rang his bells.

Sifting through the apartment wouldn't help. Hell, even turning it upside down wouldn't bring something forward. This one was smart, and Oliver knew that. Only getting this address had been difficult enough. So all he could do was waiting.

A key turned and Oliver quickly hid behind the bathroom door. When he was sure that the person he had been waiting for was alone he took a step forward.

"_I thought you might aim more high –class in a hiding place. But still, seems quite cozy!" _The voice distorter made his comment sound even more sarcastic.

The woman turned so quickly at his words that her hair flew around her face.

"_Oliver Queen! Which twist of fate do I owe your visit?"_

"_I think you already know exactly which!"_

"_I might have an idea, but you seemed to be busy confirming that playboy reputation of yours lately, so I'm not sure anymore!"_ she teased in a wicked tone.

The next moment her chin was caught in an iron like grip. _"Don't dare me to hurt you, Mercy!"_

"_You would never hurt a woman, Oliver – physically at least!"_

Tess freed herself and shot a rather interested glance at Oliver's injured nasal bone.

"_But you seem to have to picked up one or two hits yourself!"_

She hung the dark coat on the back of the door and went into the bathroom. Oliver heard the sound of water and some bustling. When Tess returned moments later her hair was back to its normal ruby color.

"_A wig!"_ she explained.

"_Already thought something like that, when I found you. Your fancy hair is not why I'm here, though!" _

Tess wasn't intimidated by his tone or his height towering over her. She took a bottle of water from the fridge and took a deep gulp.

"_Why did you take it?"_ Olivers voice was still far away from friendly or even neutral.

Tess looked at the bottle in her hand and leaned back until her back hit the cheap looking linoleum counter.

_"I was thirsty – oh sorry, did you want one too?"_

She smirked. _"Maybe a cooling pad would do you better!"_

"_Quit yanking me, Tess! Tell me: why did you sell Luthorcorp. business secrets to a third party? Did you need the money so badly, huh? Couldn't you just put some of those ugly armors from the mansion up for auction?"_

"_Are you finished?"_ Tess was obviously not very impressed by his rant. _"Good, then sit!"_ she ordered.

Oliver still looked grumpy, but dropped down on a chair by the table.

Tess brought an ice pack from the freezer and lowered it cautiously on Oliver's beaten nose.

"_Must be hard for you to keep low profile. Without the expensive clothes, the shoes and dinners at noble restaurants you've grown to like so much – ow, ow, OW!"_ Oliver cried out in pain, because Tess had given the pad more pressure than necessary.

_"Is the little prince now willing to listen?"_

Oliver slapped her hand away from his face, but nodded.

"_I'm listening!"_

"_First, I honestly counted on you to find out sooner! Second, I have enough money for two lives! The reason, why I live here has nothing to do with my financial resources. And that I didn't keep any money I made from this deal, you know too…"_

She sat down opposite from her ancient lover and all of a sudden her expression softened. _"Anyways, I know that I'm not the reason you're here. You knew instinctively that Chloe has something to do with it. And you're right!"_

Oliver lowered the ice pack a little to look at Tess. He just stared and didn't say a word. She continued her story.

"_The insider trading was admittedly my idea, but Chloe came to me and said she needed some money immediately."_

"_Where is she?"_ Oliver suddenly sounded tired. There was no snarky remark left at this point, just sorrow.

Tess shrugged helplessly. _"She wouldn't tell me, I'm sorry…"_

She reached out for Oliver's hand. _"I don't know if it helps, but she seemed to be fine, when she left."_

Oliver avoided the touch. He stood up and put his hood and the glasses back on. _"It doesn't. You should've coughed that information up a little earlier. But let's face it, timing had always been a problem for you, when it came to doing something good."_

Before he turned to leave he added. _"If you lied to me, being found by Zod or the remaining checkmate agents is the slightest of your problems. You heard me?"_

The voice distorter made it sound more threatening and Tess watched him worriedly as he climbed out the same way he came and disappeared into darkness.

There had been no sense to tell him that she had snuck a global positioning transmitter in Chloe's bag. Either she had discovered and destroyed it, or something blocked the signal.

Sometimes Chloe was too smart for her own good. Her cleverness had shown to be the second character trait beside curiosity to get her into trouble. Tess knew that, because in that trait of their personalities they were both alike.

* * *

When Oliver had finished his morning workout the next day, Clark was already waiting for him in the kitchen.

"_For god's sake it's Saturday, what are you doing here? Did Lois send you because I screwed up again?"_ he joked weakly, but behind his nonchalant façade he actually worried that this might be the case.

Nailing that featherbrained bimbo had to lead inevitably to getting a lecture by Clark Kent. How else could it be? Chastity had always been his middle name.

"_Good morning, Oliver!" _ Clark was in a striking good mood and ignored the teasing. "_I just dropped by to bring you something!"_

He placed a paper bag and a fresh issue of the Daily Planet on the counter. Oliver eyed him with both surprise and suspicion as he approached the fridge to take out a bottle of water. Then he peeked into the bag.

"_It's a Chocolate muffin. As an apology, because I got in without knocking again." _A frown appeared on Clark's features, when he looked into his friend's face. _"What's with your nose, though?"_

In the reflection of the wall mirror in the gym the skin of Oliver's nose had shown to be badly swollen and right now it felt as if it was too tight for the bone underneath.

"_I may have stopped a mugger who tried to rape his victim yesterday. He landed a fluke, that's all!"_

Clark nodded sympathetically, as if he knew how it must feel. _"Maybe you should let Emil have a look at it!"_ Then he held up the paper once again. _"You should really read the article on page three." _And one whoosh later he was gone.

* * *

Oliver took a long hot shower to ease the tension in his muscles and brewed some fresh coffee, before settling down with a mug and the paper. Page three.

* * *

"**WHY METROPOLIS NEEDS ITS HEROES" by Lois Lane**

We all want someone we can look up to, somebody, who lives his life in a way we are able to admire. Even going back in history of humanity thousands of years there had always been a longing to believe that someone will be there to save us.

In today's world of widespread self- centeredness, it is very difficult to find those heroes from whom we can gain a right perspective of the world about us. The people behind those masks are not perfect, but at times us normal people tend to forget about that. We just think that our heroes have to be above making the wrong decisions or stretching the law too far by going all in with everything they got , however it's important that we stop trying to make them something they aren't.

But this is where the problem lies. Heroes or not, in fact they are just people having as many flaws and problems as everyone else. Maybe they have friends and family they care about and to come back to, someone worried about their safety when they are out the whole night protecting other people.

That leads us to the question if the definition of being a hero is just to be a person in the right place at the right time?

Is it enough to have done something brave or tireless, or does heroism require that an action be recognized and applauded in the public sphere? Is it an act of instinctive selflessness? Or is it a considered course of action taken even in the face of danger?

Should a hero have to suffer? Or is it enough simply to set an example?

First and foremost a hero is supposed to be able to satisfy our longing for salvation, but when his actions are not fully comprehensible or something might take the wrong turn – which is bound to happen sooner or later- , today's celebrity-obsessed culture tends to rub salt in the wounds or turn the back on the formerly dearly adored and well-respected individuals. In the realm of the media, these things get muddled. The media can create a hero, then destroy a hero, because he can't live up to the dream forever.

Therefore we should put the emphasis on the fact that these individuals have risen above the circumstances, no matter how harsh it might have been, and have dedicated their lives to accomplish something significant, to make a change in everyday life.

Being brave and tireless and carrying on with an instinctive selflessness that seeks comparison, those heroes are there for the citizens of Metropolis every single day.

There is nothing wrong with being proud of our own heroes in town. Not only the Blur is doing a dangerous job insuring the safety of civilians. The Green Arrow has to be mentioned on the same level as the Blur, when it comes to thanking the people, who make our city a better place.

The time to give something back is now.

Mrs. Gloria Wilmington, had been attacked by a mugger last night. Luckily, she had not been harmed physically, but the incident could have come to a bad end, if it had not been for a man in green leather. After recovering from the shock she had to endure, Mrs. Wilmington wanted to thank her guardian angel and contacted the Daily Planet. The following words are directly addressed to the Green Arrow, wherever he might be right now.

"_You play a role most people would not take. You are doing the job of protecting the city and its inhabitants from criminals, threats, or anything in that area. You are a fighter in the war against injustice, to ensure the safety of all of us. Somehow, you just serve to protect. Yesterday I was the lucky one and I just wanted to make sure that you know how grateful I am. Thank you!"_

* * *

Oliver closed the paper and took a bite of the fluffy muffin. While he was still chewing, his cell chirped.

"_So, how did you like my piece on the Green Arrow, today? It was kind of different than the last one…"_

"_So I noticed. I like it, but I have to ask you something: Is this some trick to draw away my attention so I don't see the real blow coming?"_

"_You're talking about that tart you dragged up to your apartment?"_ Lois' tone told more than a thousand words.

"_Look, I know I screwed up, but-" _

"_Yes, you did! But you are my friend and you're hurt and upset, I get that." _

Oliver was glad that she at least didn't mention Chloe directly. There was no need to rub it in. She was the elephant in the room anyway.

"_I thought that you could see today's reference to the heroes of the city as a sign that you are not only needed, moreover you're appreciated!"_

A strange warm feeling crept up inside of him and suddenly formed a lump in his throeat. He honestly didn't know what answer to give. The sound that signaled another call coming in was his rescue. Oliver cleared his throat.

"_Lois, I'm afraid I have to go. There is another call, which I can't pass up. We're good here?"_

"_Yes, we're good. No sweat, Oliver!_

"_Okay, bye! And Lois?..."_

"_Hm?"_

"_Thanks!"_

* * *

Oliver took a deep breath before he answered the second call.

"_Hey, Cyborg! What's up?"_

"_Arrow, you have to come to Watchtower! Someone tries to hack into our database!"_

* * *

A Cliffhanger! o.0

please don't shoot me!_  
_I hope you weren't disappointed! Please let me know!

ps: I have more time to write again*yay*, so I just want to let you know that there will be at least two other chapters in december!


	9. First Date

**Chapter 9 or First Date**

Title: Northern Lights

Author: Honey 1005

Summary: Takes place after the events of Sacrifice. Chloe discovered that she's pregnant with Oliver's child and ran without thinking. This is showing the consequences of her doing and how it affects her family and friends until they meet again.

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent

Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones

Rating: M

Genre: Romance/Drama; Hurt/Comfort

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

* * *

Here comes the next chapter. It's only one so far, because I wasn't able to finish the second one. But considering that this is the longest chapter I've ever written I ask you to be mild and for once let this count as two chapters... ;)

And because I feel guilty for the afore mentioned fact, there is a little sneak peek of the next chapter at the end of this one.

Everything's said except: Have fun! And: Please leave a review!

* * *

_"In the car I just can't wait_  
_to pick you up on our very first date_  
_is it cool if I hold your hand?_  
_is it wrong if I think it's lame to dance?_  
_do you like my stupid hair?_  
_would you guess that I didn't know what to wear?_  
_I'm just scared of what you think_  
_you make me nervous so I really can't eat"_

Blink 182 – First Date

* * *

It was one of those mornings, when she wished she didn't have to get up and go to work.

Throwing up during half of the night didn't really help Chloe's unhealthy sleeping routine.

Now her alarm clock was ringing so loudly that she could nearly feel the vibration caused for her eardrums.

She pulled the covers over her head and kept just lying curled up like a ball on the mattress on the floor.

To be honest, she didn't really know why she hadn't cared to buy the most important pieces of furniture, which were still missing . Like a bed, or even a couch…

Kelly had already been bugging her at work when Chloe would finally invite some people for a housewarming party. 

_"It's been nearly two months since you've moved here."_ She had said in a somewhat accusing tone.

Only the thought of it made her giggle nervously.

Besides her colleague Kelly and her neighbor Matt she had only met the cleaning lady from the library, the elderly Mrs. Fothergill and Betty, the utterly curious cashier, who worked at the only supermarket in town.

And Chloe had the suspicion that this wasn't by coincidence. Everyone was dropping by sooner or later, if they didn't want to take the long drive to Edmonton, and like that Betty had access to most of the stories and gossip circling in town.

Chloe didn't even want to know what people had to say about her. Oh, and there was also Louis, the filling station attendant, who always whistled at her, when she got out of her car. He was about sixty and had next to no hair left on his head.

When her restless mind returned to the cause of her absent pieces of furniture she still didn't have a satisfying answer. Maybe she just didn't bother. Or maybe, there was still something left, that kept her from accepting that this was her new home and that she was going to live here permanently.

Another wave of nausea hit her and churned her sensitive stomach.

What was the sense of staying abstinent of coffee if she felt sick anyway? Chloe asked herself that question every day.

Maybe I'm getting delusions from the caffeine withdrawal she mused, while she tried to find a more comfortable position. Which wasn't exactly easy on a simple mattress lying on the floor. At least it was a Friday. That meant a shorter shift. There would be some hours left to check the net for a fancy couch, or she could finally order some books from her Amazon wish list.

Finally, she threw back the covers and got up. The window was near and she opened it to lean out and inhale some clean, cold autumn air. November had begun a few days ago and it was too cold to step on the balcony without a robe. A down jacket would be even better.

The unpleasant feeling of morning sickness was decreasing as she took a deep breath and took in the view.

The few deciduous trees in the forested landscape had changed their green into a vivid yellow or deep red.

A dense silvery fog bank above the river hindered her to see the near mountains so she focused on the house of her neighbor.

Obviously he hadn't a problem with the temperature on the outside. He was leaning against the balustrade in gray sweat pants and without a shirt.

Still steaming coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the corner of his mouth. Chloe swallowed hard. It must have to do with the coffee, she assured herself, not with his nicely shaped upper body.

Matt noticed her and waved his hand to greet. Chloe mirrored the gesture and retreated from the window. She really needed to get to work now.

* * *

Kelly pulled back her chair and sighed deeply.

"_Finally! I thought the Branson spawn was never going to leave!" _

Chloe smiled_. "Yeah. He seems to be hooked with the V for Vendetta comics, which is a little unsettling in my opinion! He's only ten!"_

"_I don't think his parents know about it!"_ Kelly winked. She checked her wallet and found a fresh twenty dollar bill.

"_You coming with me to grab something to eat this time?"_ she wanted to know and showed Chloe the _"Come on"_- look she always used , when she wanted something.

Chloe shook her head_. "Maybe next week. I'm not feeling too well."_

"_You should head home then. Drinking tea, take some time to relax and get some rest, that stuff_?"

Seconds later, Kelly had put on her jacket and turned to leave, but looked back over her shoulder. 

_"Did you think about buying a ticket for the charity raffle next Thursday? There are some really first class things to win among the prizes… Just want to let you know that you'd miss something!"_

"_I haven't done it yet! But I will, I promise!"_ Chloe responded. After her nosy colleague had left, she pulled a thermos flask out of her bag and poured a cup of chamomile tea.

The entrance door screeched and Chloe spilled some tea on her desk. Cleaning it up with a tissue paper she mechanically stated: _"The library's closed, please come back later!"_

"_I would, but then my lunch break would be over too…"_

Chloe looked up into her neighbor's face, which showed a big smile. _"Hey, Cathy!"_ he greeted her. He held up a sandwich in each hand. _"Chicken or Pastrami?"_

Over the last weeks he had started to drop by from time to time.

He wasn't only picking Kelly up to go for a drink, he also came, when she was absent and the he just stayed and passed his lunch break with her.

Once again, Chloe wondered, what his job was. Matt was always dressed casually and she'd never seen him in one of the shops or the bank.

On the other hand she had never asked him, what he did for a living.

She'd let him take the lead during their conversations. He talked and at the same time she tried to avoid the questions he was sometimes posing.

If she had been more apprehensive to the gossip Kelly had tried to tell her, she might have found out by now.

Matt was still looking at her curiously and she reluctantly pulled out of her reverie as soon as she noticed it.

"_Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend?"_ Chloe said instead of an answer.

"_Girlfriend? Ah…, you mean Kelly?"_ he asked confusedly.

Chloe nodded.

Matt chuckled. _"She's not my girlfriend or anything like that!"_

"_She would like to be! Anyone can see that."_ Chloe replied with a light smile on her lips.

"_You know, the last time I checked I might still have a say in that matter, don't you think?"_ He blinked twice, as if he was irritated by her statement.

"_What are you trying to tell me here?" _she asked, now slightly infuriated too.

"_That you don't care about a girl's feelings for you? Fine, I just thought the two of you would make a cute match, that's all."_ Chloe turned back to her computer and pretended to work, when Matt swung her chair around to make her look at him.

He put his hands on the edge of the desk, trapping Chloe in between. The sandwiches lay forgotten a few inches away from his left hand.

"_You've been doing this since you've arrived here, probably minus five days, to be fair?_" he stated in a serious tone as he stared down at her.

"_What are you talking about?"_Chloe furred her brow, not getting, what he was talking about. She crossed her arms stubbornly under her breasts to show him that he couldn't intimidate her so easily.

"_You're always reclining any invitations for dinner or a drink, but you're smiling as if you wanted to say yes… See, I'm confused and I want to know what's going on, that's all." _Suddenly he seemed more hesitantly than determined.

"_It's not that I don't like you… as a friend…"_ Chloe tried to find proper words_ "But I just moved here, everything is still new to me and things are… complicated!"_

Problem was, she was really fond of her neighbor. That was nothing but the truth. He had always been nice to her and promised to help her, if she needed anything. And she liked to talk to him and have him around, when he visited her at work, which was an unexpected bonus. Still, she couldn't bring herself to open up and be a little bit more trusting or outgoing.

Matt exhaled noisily and gave her some space. Then he ruffled his hair, which was had already grown down to reach past his jaw and smiled sheepishly.

"_I'm a decent guy! You wouldn't lose your face, only because you accept to go for a drink once in a while. It doesn't have to be me. Kelly would love it to show you some clubs in Edmonton, believe me! But I may be mistaken and you don't want to get to know new people or make a friend, who knows?"_

The smile had left his face and made space for something that looked an awful lot like worry.

"_You're young, you're pretty and you even seem to be nice. What I don't get is this nearly panicky behavior to avoid social contact with almost every other human being. Is everything alright, do you have any problems?"_

Chloe tried to look as unaffected as possible, though his words clearly stung in her heart.

"_Yeah, me and other people… I'm afraid I'm not much of a sociable type. Maybe I need to get a dog."_ She muttered grumpily, but then added more heatedly _"And for the record: You don't even know the first thing about me!"_

Matt snatched one of the sandwiches from the desk and waved it in front of her nose.

"_I know that you like chicken. I don't, but I always bring this one for you."_

With that he turned and left Chloe alone with her thoughts.

She was thankful, when Kelly returned and distracted her with the bucket full of raffle tickets and some shallow gossip about the headmaster of the primary school. Seemingly he had something going on with one of his students' moms. Chloe bought three tickets, each à five dollar and returned to her work.

* * *

Oliver had paced around in Watchtower all riled up like a tiger inside a cage for the last hours.

About every felt thirty seconds he was prying over Victor's shoulder to see if there was something new. Then he returned to walking back and forth like before.

As he had been doing that with annoying continuity since he had arrived in the morning, Victor was slowly reaching the end of his tether.

He had to concentrate on his "human" hackinh abilities, as he couldn't link himself to the database of Watchtower, because it would have been too dangerous for him to get infected with a virus or a worm by whoever tried to get access right now.

"_Who is it? It's her, isn't it?"_ Oliver wanted to know once again behind him, this time his voice was more insistent than before, if that was even possible.

Finally, Victor turned to face him.

"_How the hell would I know? This hacker sends me in circles over the whole globe with about a freaking hundred faked IP- addresses. Do you think he or she sent me a picture to let me know who, I'm dealing with?"_ he barked at the man, who usually was his boss.

Oliver might have what it took to lead operations in the field, but when it came to hacking and sophisticated technical devices he was a little bit ..., let's say untalented.

For one moment Oliver looked as if he wanted to hit his friend, but the glint in his eyes quickly faded and he shrugged it off. _"Just continue whatsoever it is that you're doing and find out where the signal is coming from, alright?"_

Victor sighed and turned back to the keyboard. He let it click so fast that Oliver wondered why there wasn't any smoke coming from one of the processors or Victor himself, for that matter. 

_"Fuck!"_ the latter one muttered under his breath, but continued to press the keys relentlessly and even with an increased pace.

"_We've only a few firewalls left! Whoever is trying to get in here, sure knows our system! I've never seen anyone knock out my security so quickly! If we want to protect the database it's inevitable to shut Watchtower down!"_

A strange look appeared on Oliver's face._ "What? But then you can't trace the attacker, right?"_

Victor just rolled his eyes at this comment and continued his task.

"_We don't have much time left, do you really want to take the risk of letting someone access every information that we ever gathered?"_ The younger one pressed unyieldingly, while he began building up new firewalls and simultaneously kept his tracker jumping over the digital map on one of the monitors.

"_Shut up! I'm trying to think here!"_

"_I can't! I need a decision right now, or we might as well wave the white flag!"_

"_Keep the connection!" _Oliver said adamantly. He had already made his decision.

"_But, what's with the information? Details about the members of the league…"_ Victor tried to reason him, though there was no chance that Oliver would revise his opinion. Most of the time it was set in stone.

"_We're not going to shut the system down! Just find out, where the signal comes from! This is my last word!"_ he huffed angrily, because he was doubted in his judgment of the situation. Oliver sat down beneath the window of watchtower and drooped. He buried his face in his hands and hoped that he had done the right thing.

"_Ha! I think I cornered the signal!"_ Victor exclaimed triumphantly.

Oliver shot up so quickly from his spot at the window that he nearly knocked over one of the mobile monitors, which were standing around everywhere at Watchtower. He tried to follow the quick movements of a red route tracing the IP signal on the map of the world, when it suddenly all stopped and disappeared.

From the way Victor was stopping dead in his tracks and even stood there with an open mouth for one instant, it was easy to assume this wasn't a good thing to happen.

_"What the hell…?"_

Victor cleared his throat before he spoke up.

"_I have good news and bad news…"_

"_Just spill!"_

"_The security breech was averted, but the signal stopped before I could find out a definite location!"_

Oliver let out a string of curses and banged his fist on the desk next to the already maltreated keyboard.

"_Though",_ he continued with a proud smile, _"I was able to narrow the signal down to about one third of the northern hemisphere!"_

"_And this is going to help us how?"_ Oliver inquired impatiently.

"_At least we know that whoever tried to hack into our database, is sitting in the states or… well, Canada! - What?" _Victor frowned when Oliver headed for the door without giving an answer.

Frustrated that his efforts weren't at least somehow appreciated Victor yelled after his leaving friend. _"It's better than nothing, if it really was Chloe! And it wouldn't hurt you to say thanks once in a while!"_

* * *

Everything went black. Not that she had fainted, only the lights have suddenly gone out and even her laptop, which was running over the net adapter had said goodbye.

Chloe had lost time over the hours she spent covering her tracks after someone, probably Victor, had noticed her break- in into Watchtowers electronic files and tried to get her location via the IP.

But she'd kept him spinning, by setting up dozens of dummies all over the world, while she disabled one firewall after another. She had counted on the possibility that there was no new security system than her own, but was proven wrong, when she'd stumbled over the first firewall.

Chloe had known from the beginning that it was probably not the best idea, but Lana had wanted her to access the GPS – trackers in the Kandorian passports after being alarmed by one of her sources.

So she had spent her Saturday forenoon, afternoon and apparently also a good part of the evening to hack into her own system without succeeding. And it had made her angry.

All she got from it was sitting in the dark with cold feet, while a storm was roaring outside. She had heard about it in the weather forecast the day before, but had been so caught up in her doing that she had simply forgotten about it until the power went out.

Heavy rain was coming down against the windows and if the temperature dropped, this storm might easily turn into a blizzard.

As she didn't want so sit around her kitchen table with some gloomy candle light lighting up the room, she chose to take a hot shower and just cuddle up in bed.

After she had used up the remaining hot water she slipped into a far too big T-Shirt and some cozy flannel pajama bottoms.

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, she studied herself.

Her brown hair was damp from the shower, even though she had pulled it up into a messy up-do.

lowly she pulled at the lower seam of the shirt until her belly was uncovered and turned to get a better view of the contours of her body.

Her breasts had definitely become bigger and there was a small bump that clearly indicated the growth of her baby. His baby.

She had just splayed her fingers in a loving way on the still small curve, when someone hammered against the front door. Chloe jumped and pulled down her shirt.

Tip-toeing she went to the staircase, which made absolutely no sense, because with the growling wind outside, nobody would be able to hear her anyway. The door sprang open and a dark figure stepped inside.

Chloe could see he was looking around, most likely for her and disappeared behind the next corner. Blood pumped heavily through her veins and she couldn't suppress the panic building up inside her.

What if someone had been able to track her signal?

Only Clark or Bart would be fast enough to arrive here at such short notice. Or… one of the Kandorians! They could've found her, maybe they had noticed that she tried to activate the GPS-trackers in their IDs.

She didn't even keep in mind that that was nearly impossible. Her heart beat increased its pace every second and somehow all of her logic thinking was turned off. She heard the creak of the third step and felt like she was going to be sick. The blood pounded in her ears and her breath seemed unnaturally loud to herself.

Forgotten were the two guns in her closet, or the kryptonite dagger under her pillow. All she could do was stand still and wait. When she heard the breathing that wasn't her own she knew that he would be around the corner every moment and her brain kicked back in. She had done some actual sparring with Oliver and he had shown her some moves to protect herself. It wouldn't be of any use with an alien, but she couldn't wait to be killed just like that.

The second the body appeared in her sighting field she leaped forward. She rammed her shoulder into the stranger's stomach, which let a howl emanate from his lungs and simultaneously kicked against his kneecap. When he slumped forward all she had to do was to duck and haul to throw him over and against the opposite wall of the corridor.

He grunted in pain, but when she tried to make a run for her bedroom, he caught her ankle and she fell hard on her right knee. Lightning lit the corridor up for an instance and her attacker's eyes grew wide. Chloe wasn't any less surprised.

The man who was unbelievingly staring at her and still had her foot in an iron grip was her neighbor.

* * *

"_What the hell were you thinking to break in my house like that?"_

Chloe leaned against the kitchen counter. Her hands were still shaking from the adrenaline overdrive she had experienced.

Matt stood near her, dripping wet and leaving puddles on the floor. He hovered above the sink and was cleaning his face. The crash with the wall had given him a split lip. 

_"I knocked, and I called your name a few_ _times!_ he stated indignantly.

"_I didn't hear a word and this is not an explanation!"_Chloe retorted furiously.

"_I didn't mean to scare you! I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Since you're a city girl and all… I thought you might be afraid…"_ He turned his face and looked up at her from his bent position like a guilty child.

"_You nearly gave me a heart attack!"_

He pointed at his face._ "And see what I got for my intentions to be a caring neighbor!"_

His lip had stopped bleeding, but some bruises started to shine on his jaw and his forehead.

"_I wouldn't have tried to knock you down, if you had had the brains to let me know that it was you!" _Her voice was still stingy, but the expression on her features had softened.

"_Tried? You almost threw me through that damn wall. Do you know that assaulting an officer has serious consequences up here?"_

"_You're a cop?"_ Chloe asked genuinely bewildered. Uh-oh. This was no good. So not good.

"_Chief of police, at your service!"_ He smiled and took a slight bow. He closed the distance between them and reached out for her shoulder. Chloe hadn't become aware of it until she felt the touch. The sudden warmth spreading through the cotton of the T-shirt made her wince.

"_Did I hurt you?"_ Matt threw a glimpse to the stairs, when she seemed to be puzzled by his statement. _"I mean up there."_

She shook her head. "_My knee will probably be shining in all colors of the rainbow by tomorrow, but I'll be fine."_ She paused, didn't know what to say anymore.

"_Are you afraid of me?"_ He asked hoarsely, eyes still focused on hers.

To date he had had the impression that they were blue like his own, but now standing so close he saw that they were green.

She looked away and took her time to answer. Given the possibility he took the chance to take a closer look at the woman standing before him.

Her hair was mussed and she still looked pale from the shock he had caused her. She was wearing a far too big t-shirt.

It must have been black once, now it was nearly grey and the printed word _"EXCELSIOR" _had lost much of its form.

And still she was irresistible to him. He didn't even know why exactly he felt drawn to her. Maybe it was all this buttoned up behavior, which made him curious to be near her, to get know her.

Stop staring, he reminded himself. Clearing his throat he got her attention. _"So?"_

"_So?"_ she parroted. _"Are you afraid of me?"_ he reprised his question.

"_You really freaked me out up there, but no… I'm not afraid of you!"_

"_Good, then you won't startle, when I do this…"_

Moving his hand down her spine, she shivered, but stood there as if frozen solid.

He bent his head down to her level and let his lips touch hers gingerly. The bruising of his lower lip thumped with pain but he let the kiss linger at little more before he drew back.

"_I know, you're not ready, and I won't press you. That doesn't mean that I can't hope!"_

He kissed the top of her hands and turned to leave.

He had already opened the door, when had gathered her senses so much, that she was able to call after him. _"Matt, I thought we were just friends?"_

"_Well, what you think does not necessarily have to do much with reality…"_

And with that he was gone.

* * *

"_You know, when you said "Hey, let's go shopping" I thought about something a little bit more fancy, like clothes? There are so many cute maternity pieces that I would like to have a baby myself only to be able to wear them!"_ Chloe nudged Lana with her elbow, but still had to giggle.

The two of them were strolling through the land alleys of "Furniture Eden" in Edmonton. It sounded a little bit like a strip club, but it had nice furniture and wasn't too expensive.

"_I have to admit that I'm glad you're ultimately choosing to sleep in an actual bed, and buying a little couch wouldn't hurt your budget either, but…"_

"_Don't go there, Lana!"_

"_Uh uh. But you should definitely go there. Or do you think all those nightmares you're having are by accident! You feel guilty and the lack of sleep isn't doing you any good! Neither of you!"_ Lana made an exaggerated gesture over her friends belly which annoyed Chloe even more.

"_Your patronizing doesn't help me! So cut it out!"_

"_But lip-locking with a member of the local police does?"_ her friend shot back cynically, but with a quite interested expression. She was only too curious about this mystery man.

"_Argh! I knew I shouldn't have told you in the first place!"_ Chloe stalked away with her head up high, though the waistband of her jeans pinched her belly. She hated to admit that Lana was right. About the maternity wear.

* * *

"_And the spa- day in Edmonton goes to… TICKET NUMBER 394!"_

Chloe was sitting at the bar with a soda in front of her and watched the raffle drawing with mild interest. Lana was sitting to her right and busy ignoring her friend since they'd come back from their shopping tour that afternoon.

From time to time she demonstratively sucked the straw in her tequila sunrise and pouted. Too bad that Chloe had chosen to play difficult too. She watched as Kelly shot up from a few seats away. _"It's me! I got it! I got it!"_ she screeched and hurried to the stage where the mayor was already waiting with the voucher.

Kelly came back to the bar with blushed cheeks and a grin like a Cheshire Cat on her face. She ordered a glass of wine and showed Chloe her prize. _"Congratulations!" _

Kelly returned her attention to the stage.

"_We're coming to the first prize, ladies and gentlemen!"_

"_Now that's going to be the real thing!"_ Chloe heard her colleague murmuring into her ear. She shot her an inquiring look. _"Wait and see!"_ Kelly teased jokingly and grabbed her remaining tickets.

Chloe had only two tickets left. She'd won a plush bear and a set of wine glasses, which were waiting in her car.

The mayor's volume increased: _"We were able to persuade our favorite police officer to donate the main prize! A date including dinner, a movie and maybe even a goodnight kiss! And ladies … this man is still single!" _The crowd cheered. 

_"Matthew Beaumont, please come up here!" _The man in his late twenties, with the dark brown hair, which was a little too long, only needed a few long strides and got up on stage.

Lana suddenly looked up from her drink, Kelly squirmed with impatience in her seat and Chloe showed no reaction at all.

"_Let's see who the lucky lady is, or the lucky man!"_ The mayor joked and put his hand into the silvery pot. 

_"NUMBER 275!"_

Chloe could see some women wildly checking their tickets along with her colleague. Kelly moaned and gave up her search. _"_

_Oh, crap! I would have loved to get that goodnight kiss."_

She snuck a look at the two remaining tickets lying on the bar right in front of Chloe and gasped.

_"You won him!"_

* * *

"_You planned this! Admit it!"_ Chloe accused her vis-à-vis and pointed her fork at him impolitely.

Matt had the nerve to look smug and flashed her a grin.

"_I had nothing to do with it I swear! Though it honors me that you think I could be this sleazy!"_

Chloe mumbled something under her breath. It didn't seem to be anything nice, so Matt figured it better stayed unheard.

"_Why did you even come here, if you are so repelled by me?" _

That was exactly her problem. She didn't think he was repellant at all.

"_Kelly would have probably smothered me in my sleep if I had let such a possibility slip up! Her words, not mine!"_ Chloe added defensively and returned her attention to the fish on her plate.

Her date had picked her up at six and they drove to a nice French restaurant in the city.

The fact that he held the doors open for her and pulled her stool out nearly gave her a headache. Obviously he was pretty determined.

When he took the Sauvignon Blanc out of the cooler he gazed at the girl on the other side of the table. She was wearing black jeans and a burgundy silk blouse. _"Wine?"_ Her hand shot up and hindered him to fill her glass. _"Uh- no. Thank you!"_

Matt furrowed his brow and poured himself a glass. Then he leaned forward and murmured conspiratorially: _"You know, if you'd rather have a beer that's no problem. I know "le cuisiner". Georges will look the other way for your culinary faux-pas. He always makes an exception for a beautiful woman!"_

Chloe nearly spilled her water and couldn't help but laugh.

"_I'm dead serious!"_ He assured her, but smirked immediately. _"At least about the beautiful part. You look stunning!_" She blushed and looked away.

They finished their meal and returned to the car, but Matt was called back by the owner of the restaurant.

They exchanged some quick phrases in French, which Chloe didn't understand.

When he came back he held a little package wrapped in aluminum foil. _"What was that about?" _she wanted to know.

Matt handed it over and said. _"Georges said it's dessert. For my girlfriend."_ He put the emphasis on the latter sentence. _"His words, not mine."_

They got in the car and he started the ignition.

"_You're French-Canadian?"_

"_Not exactly."_ He said evasively.

"_If you don't want to talk about it…"_ Chloe pouted.

"_That coming from the woman, who blocks every personal question…"_ He left the phrase unfinished.

"_Fine. Let's make a compromise. Question for question. What do you say?"_ she urged.

"_Shoot!"_ He didn't seem pleased, but concentrated on the street.

"_Origins?"_

"_My grandfather was from the French aristocracy. He moved here with my grandmother and started a business here in the 1940's. Are you wearing contacts?"_

Chloe's eyes narrowed. _"What kind of question is this?"_

"_We had no deal about any questions being improper, so tell me!"_

"_Yes, I do wear contacts."_ Lying didn't make sense, as he had already noticed it. It would only make him wary. She had to be. He was a cop after all and she would be in big trouble if he found out that her identity was a fake.

Matt drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and smiled.

"_Why is this so interesting for you?"_

"_I just noticed that your eyes were green, not blue, the evening you nearly knocked me out, so I wondered. Green's the real color?"_

She just nodded and was grateful that they had arrived at the movie center.

* * *

"_Don't tell me you didn't even check the program once, before you took me here." _She said it with such an amount of disbelief that he felt guilty.

"_I'm sorry. How was I supposed to know that there would only be "Shoot 'em up- and alien-movies" showing just when I got a date."_

"_It doesn't matter. Really. Just take me home."_ She patted his arm. _"Come on."_

When they finally arrived in front of their houses, Matt made a suggestion.

"_I'm sorry about the movie."_

"_Don't worry. I had a great evening. It was fun."_

"_Yeah? Good."_ He shifted his posture as if he was uncomfortable. "You could come in and watch a movie at my place. I have a flat screen and maybe even a film without any blood spilling every five minutes."

She froze for a second and eyed him suspiciously. _"Is that the same code as: I want to show you my stamp collection?"_

"_God, no!"_ He seemed honestly shocked. _"I will keep my hands to myself, I promise!"_

Chloe took the proffered arm and let Matt lead her into his house.

* * *

Chloe woke to the familiar feeling, which had been turning her stomach up and down for about four months now. When she realized that she wasn't in her house and must have fallen asleep at Matt's place during the film, it was already too late.

She leapt up from the leather couch and made a run for the bathroom. In the process she shoved her elbow into Matt, on whose shoulder she had slumbered. He rubbed the area, where she'd hit him and yawned.

The intro of "Moulin Rouge" was still playing. What a crappy movie. No wonder they had fallen asleep. And he had been a real gentleman. True to his word he hadn't touched her, tough he could only guarantee for the time, when he had been awake.

He looked around, but couldn't get a glimpse of Cathy.

He strolled to the kitchen to prepare some coffee and heard noises coming from the bathroom. Maybe she just had to pee or a girl thing or something. He heard some explicit curses and was tempted to laugh, but the sound of choking that followed immediately hindered him.

When she finally came out, all pale and miserable, he was already waiting for her with a mug of tea.

She took it from his hands without a word and avoided looking at him.

"_So…"_ he started _"Anything you want to tell me?"_

Chloe looked as if she'd rather have her lips sewn together than saying anything. This was so embarrassing.

"_What about the minor point that you're pregnant?"_

* * *

I know, I know, some of you would like to kill me now. But let's see the bright side. There is the Chlollie-reunion in the next chapter.

As promised, the sneak preview:

* * *

Chapter 10 - Let me go

_"Oliver was taken aback by the appearance of the woman rummaging in the kitchen. Her hair had a plain brown color and the wavy ends brushed over her shoulder blades. Even from the angle at which he was looking at her he could see the curve of her pregnant abdomen. _

_All of those details were seen by his eyes, but it seemed like they weren't recognized by his brain, because something about her was ringing his bells and kept telling him he knew her._

_Matt re-entered the room behind him and playfully called out to the woman in the kitchen: "Hey Darling! Guess, who I brought for dinner?"_

_Just in that moment "Cathy" turned her head to look at the two men in the living room. The smile froze on her face."_

* * *

I hope you keep reading, and reviewing couldn't harm either!

I wish every one A HAPPY NEW YEAR! and hope to read from you soon.

All the best

Honey


	10. Let me go

This is my first update in a VERY long time, but I haven't forgotten about this story! I just wanted to make this chapter longer to include the meeting of Chloe and Oliver, but I postponed it to the next chapter. Hope you still read and review...

* * *

**Chapter 10 or Let me go**

**Title:** Biggest Mistake

**Author:**Honey 1005

**Summary:**Post "Sacrifice". Chloe discovered that she's pregnant with Oliver's child and ran without thinking. This is showing what happens until and when they meet again.

**Characters:** Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lois Lane, Clark Kent, Dinah Lance, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, John Jones

**Rating:** M

**Genre:**Romance/Drama, Hurt/Comfort

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville or any of its characters!

* * *

"**One more kiss could be the best thing,**

**But one more lie could be the worst**

**All these thoughts are never resting**

**And you're not something I deserve.**

**You love me, but you don't know who I am**

**I'm torn between this life I lead and where I stand**

**And you love me, but you don't know who I am**

**So let me go**

**Let me go"**

* * *

"_What about the minor point that you're pregnant?"_

The words resounded in her head like an echo for a few times and the only thing Chloe could think about was how to flee this embarrassing situation as soon as possible.

Her eyes darted to the next door and her brain processed if there was any possibility to make a run for it, but her stomach hadn't settled down yet and her legs were still wobbly.

Though she had nearly crushed Matt's kneecap during their nightly incident a few days ago, she couldn't count on being any faster than him, given her own swollen joint, which shone proudly in a dark shade of violet.

Matt seemed to suspect something, because he gripped her elbow and held it tightly, while he led her down the hall to his kitchen. Not seeing any chance to escape the situation, Chloe opted for sarcasm instead and hoped that would do the trick and shoo him away.

Slowly she took a swallow of the tea and shot Matt a somewhat annoyed glance.

"_Don't tell me you didn't understand the whole concept with the birds and the bees, when you were little, because I'm not sure I'm in the right place to lecture you about the possible consequences."_

At least she didn't try to deny it. Matt pulled up one corner of his mouth into a crooked smile, which definitely lacked humor.

"_Oh, nice one." _He clapped his hands sarcastically. _"But I heard that story a long time ago. Let's get to the point, shall we?"_

He shifted a little bit and watched her intently, before he began to speak again.

"_You're pregnant, but we've already established that. Not drinking alcohol and puking your guts out in the morning are pretty obvious signs, if you ask me."_

Chloe focused stubbornly on a picture of an African spice market just behind Matt's shoulder and didn't make a move. The sooner he would start talking the sooner this whole farce would be over.

But he wasn't botheredby her silence and simply continued. _"I'm fully aware that that's personal and none of my business, unless you decide otherwise. The really interesting thing, though, is that you're using a disguise."_

He recognized that Cathy's eyes widened ever so slightly and went on, knowing that he had her full attention now.

"_You wear colored contact lenses and you dye your hair. I might not have special training, but I'm not stupid. I notice details. Maybe you should have wasted a thought on your hairline. It's already getting fairer."_

Chloe caught herself touching her hair unconsciously. _"Are you about finished?" _she bit out and continued scowling.

Matt folded his arms and clicked his tongue. _"Not even remotely. I might not have been suspicious about your motives for moving to a Canadian small town in the middle of nowhere, but when you went all "Kill Bill" on me I looked you up. You have a Canadian passport, however you're American. Anybody can hear that."_ He paused and waited for a reaction. An explanation, a justification, anything. It didn't come. So he had to be blunt.

"_You're not, who you pretend to be!"_

Cathy - or whatever her name was - flinched, but recovered quickly. Finally she looked him in the eye.

"_I've lived in the U.S. since I was little, but I was born in Canada. So what, if I have a Canadian passport?!"_she retorted.

As soon as she had answered she knew that he wouldn't believe her. It was too late.

"_Catherine Archer – Greene didn't exist until a few months ago. Whoever took care of your new identity went out of his way to give you a nice and coherent background story, but it was conspicuously flawless, so I rechecked every detail of it. And after many hours of internet research and a lot of phone calls I found a loose end."_

Chloe raised her arms in an unnerved gesture. Some dropsof tea sloshed over the brim of the mug she was clutching and on her swore.

"_So? What keeps you from blowing my cover or even arresting me? Faking identities is a crime! Why do you bother to confront me first? And why the hell did you go on that stupid date with me, if you already knew I was playing you?!"_ she shouted furiously.

Because he liked her. Very much. But it was only one of his reasons. Though it was the one more important to him, it was wiser to try an explanation with the other one. _"Because your set-up was so elaborated that I thought you might have a good reason to hide."_

She blinked. Matt pushed himself off the counter and came closer._ "I know you're not a criminal. There are no records of a person, who really resembles you. And believe me – I've been thorough!"_

Chloe chewed her lip, because she didn't know what to say. Therefore she stayed silent.

"_That friend of yours, the girl with the long black hair … is she your Marshal?"_ Matt searched Cathy's face for some tell-tale signs, but looked away after a few seconds. He was stricken. _"Ah, forget what I said. You shouldn't tell me. I know you're not allowed to." _He ran his fingers through his dark hair and turned to stare out of the window. As if there was something more important out there than the woman standing on the other side of the room. But what was he supposed to say? That he didn't want to see her again? That it would be the best if she relocated and found another hiding place?

He wasn't a good liar, and the truth was that he wanted her to stay. He wanted _her_, pregnant or not! It was as simple as that. The difficult part of it was to tell her without sounding like some crazy pervert.

Still not an idea how to formulate his thoughts properly, he heard the thud as she put down the mug on the granite surface of the kitchen cabinet. When he turned around to look at her, he found that Cathy had already made the decision for him. She was halfway at the door, while he stood in his kitchen and waited until she had left.

In his head he knew this should be better for both of them, but his heart thought differently.

Chloe walked the few meters over to her house and began to cry as soon as she was inside. She was hungry and sick at the same time, a very nasty combination. The confrontation with Matt had drained her and she felt as if she hadn't slept at all.

When he had asked her about Lana she nearly had laughed hysterically. Or cried. She wasn't quite sure.

The guilt she already felt about leaving her friends behind without even saying goodbye was hard enough to cope with; she didn't need other sins that made her list of them even longer. And yet here she was.

Lying to Matt – or just not telling the whole truth, as she always liked to put it – gnawed at her conscience.

A Marshal and witness protection. A nervous squeak escaped her throat. That couldn't be farther from the truth.

Though, in some way, it was even better than only a fake personality. It gave her a good reason to be where she was right now. But she wasn't sure if she really was where she wanted to be. A very vivid image of Oliver appeared in her mind in the arms of the woman she had seen on the cover of the magazine. She tried to shoo it away, but it was persistent. And she knew that it was her own fault, that he had found someone else.

* * *

Dinah Lance impatiently glanced at her watch for what felt like the twentieth time during the last few minutes. She was at Watchtower and waited for the rest of the team to arrive. Well, most of the team. Clark and Oliver had been excluded from the meeting. Oliver already knew what they would be talking about and Clark too. He was against it, but he said that he wouldn't interfere with Oliver's decision.

A voice came from the double glass doors. _"They won't arrive any sooner, only because you keep doing that, you know?"_

Dinah turned her head to glare at the tall blond man, but he smirked at her in a way that made her shrug her annoyance off.

"_Given the fact that one of us can be at most locations and I quote "in a flash", I get a little bit frustrated, when everybody is late, though we had fixed a time for this appointment."_ She complained.

"_Stop whining, it doesn't suit you."_ AC said coolly. _"You know how we are. You've been working with us for years now. And because you're no pushover, you'll endure the pain of waiting!" _A wide grin spread on his face and he nudged her with his elbow in the ribs._"Actually, I even have an idea how we could kill the time quite effectively."_

He reached out to one of the slightly curled strands covering her ears, but she slapped his hand away. _"Stop that, fishstick." _She snarled grumpily. _"I'm not in the mood."_

AC intended to give her a smart comeback, but as the familiar gust of wind indicated Bart's entrance, he closed his mouth without a word. They could continue their banter after the meeting.

Victor came in right behind Bart, looking exhausted.

He was the only one, who offered an explanation for being late. _"I'm sorry. I had a meeting with Clarkand Lois and I couldn't get away early, without raising any skepticism!"_

"_Good, now that we're all here, can we start?"_ Dinah rose to speak. The men looked at her expectantly. _"Great. We all know what or better who this is about and I think that it's high time for us to make a decision."_ She cleared her throat before she continued. _"Chloe is gone. We've been looking for her for months now. Oliver thinks she doesn't want to be found and that we should give her what she desires."_

Bart's face fell immediately, but Dinah went on with her speech, before he was ready to contradict her.

"_I believe he's right. We need to stop looking." _Three pairs of eyes stared back at her and she waited for a reaction. Three. Two. One.

"_NO! We can't do that. You're joking, right? Tell me she's joking…"_ Bart turned to AC, who just sighed. _"Ah… well…"_

"_Are you crazy? We're not giving up! Victor, say something!" _the younger one begged his friend.

Victor was obviously uncomfortable with the situation. He patted Bart's shoulder awkwardly.

"_They're right, Bart!"_ he stated silently. His discomfort with the situation was palpable.

"_What?"_ The younger man jerked his head up in disbelief.

"_You should have seen Oliver's face, when he told me that Tess had confirmed that Chloe had made money with insider trades concerning Luthercorp. and fled the city." _Victor shook his head as if he wanted to get rid of the picture.

Oliver had looked something between furious and disillusioned, when he explained what information Tess had been able to give. His eyes had been swollen and red. If it had been because he had constantly worked overtime during the last weeks or because he had cried, Victor hadn't been able to tell. And he had known better than to ask. He liked his head, where it was.

Dinah brought herself to speak up again, her voice a little unsteady_. "Let's face it. In doing so, Chloe betrayed us. We can't waste –" _

"_No, no! Not her! Chloe would never do that to the team, we are her family!" _Bart's voice nearly cracked at his desperate exclaim.

"_Oh, come on! How can you defend her actions? She let us down and is now somewhere enjoying a sizzling new life with Oliver's money!"_ Dinah shouted at the younger one, and hated herself for doing so the moment she had acted out on her frustration.

The kid's shoulders slumped and his eyes went a tad glassy and he fought back his tears.

He wouldn't cry. Not in front of them. And he wouldn't give up either. He would never stop looking.

"_Do what you want, I will too!"_ He stated hoarsely, before he whooshed away and left the others helplessly looking on.

The rest of them stood in the circular room of Watchtower, heads lowered in shame. Only the humming of the many monitors and processors penetrated the awkward silence.

Victor found words first. _"It's difficult for him. He needs time."_

"_But we stick to the decision?"_ Dinah had to make sure.

"_Yeah, we do. Keeping up Oliver's hopes and disappointing him again and again doesn't do him any good."_ Victor rubbed his face. _"I'm heading out. You guys don't mind, do you? I didn't get much sleep lately. I need to rest before we meet the others."_

The remaining two just nodded. When Victor had left, Dinah sighed and leaned against the desk near the door, where AC had already sought support at the start of the discussion.

"_You were too tough on him. Bart loves Chloe more than anything, you know that…"_ AC's voice was soft, but his words still stung_._

Dinah glared at him, before she responded. _"Do you think it makes me feel good to play the bad guy, whenever there is a complicated choice to make?" _Her voice grew louder with every word.

"_I had to be the bearer of the bad news, because you two big guys were too chicken to tell him. Oliver got an excuse, because he barely can keep himself together right now. But you and Victor… -just behave like grown-ups from time to time!"_

Her cheeks flushed red with anger as she continued her rant.

"_Do you think I like to be the only woman on the team? Or that it's easy for me to see our leader in the shape he's in, without being able to help?"_ When she realized she was yelling at AC, she closed her mouth.

He pulled her closer and tucked a curl behind her ear. Then he carefully wrapped his arm around her back and lightly squeezed her shoulder. Dinah let her head sink against him, hiding her face in the crook of his neck. _"It's not your fault. I mean, yelling didn't help the cause, but you were right. Don't do this to yourself. I'm sorry we've let you handle it alone. We really weren't helpful. I can only speak for myself, but I'll try to be more mature from now on."_ He turned his head and kissed her hair.

"_I'm sorry about the yelling part." _She groaned and stood. _"We have to meet Oliver and Clark soon. There must be something we can do about the Kandorians. Playing the sitting duck isn't my forte."_

"_Oh, really?"_ AC chuckled softly as she took his hand and dragged him along to meet the others._"Lead the way, tweetie!_

* * *

Matt gave her time. He was sure that she would run. Day after day he waited and feared that the lights wouldn't go on in the neighbor house anymore. They always did. After two weeks of avoiding Cathy, he felt his self-restraint crumble. He caught himself a few times, when he was already reaching out to the doorknob without thinking. Struggling with himself because of the obvious complications that liking her and the undeniable need to be with herwould bring, was no use. It always had the same effect.

There was this little voice inside his head that kept pushing him. _"Just do it. Go over to see how she's doing. You know you want to. And for heaven's sake, stop talking to yourself!"_

Finally, he gave in and went over to ring the doorbell. Cathy opened the door and was clearly surprised to see him, but still invited him in.

He shrugged out of his coat, stepped out of his shoes and followed her to the living room. She had made some changes since he'd been there the last time. There was a dark blue sofa with huge cushions and a matching armchair with a plaid blanket and an open book on the seating. They sat down on the sofa.

"_You're still here."_ He muttered and silently berated himself for stating the obvious.

She gave him an uncertain smile. _"Did you want me to leave?"_

"_God, no!"_ he said too quickly and flinched. Checking Cathy's face for her reaction, he was relieved to see that his vis-à-vis didn't seem to object.

"_Good. Because I like it here." _And I have nowhere else to go. But he didn't need to know that.

"_I like _you_."_ He replied simply and smiled again.

The proximity of her body made his heart beat faster. Matt lifted one finger to the side of her face and followed her jaw line down to her chin. His eyes never left hers as he did so, giving her the opportunity to stop him. He knew he was taking chances. It was either now or never. He leaned in to kiss her and this time she wasn't spooked.

He nudged her nose a little to the side and finally brought his lips down on hers. The kiss was gentle and soft. He nibbled at her lower lip and slowly brushed over it with his tongue as if he was begging for entrance. One hand wandered to the back of her neck and curled up in her hair, while the other one still caressed the side of her face with his thumb.

Chloe closed her eyes and gave explored her mouth with gentle strokes of his tongue as she let him in, but didn't push her to further things. He was just enjoying the feeling of her soft lips against his and the warmth of her mouth.

In return Chloe felt relaxed for the first time since she had left Smallville for good, moreover she felt save in the arms of this man. That he was a really good kisser didn't hurt either.

When the need for air slowly but steadily increased, she pulled back.

Matt stared at her, waiting. _"Huh… that was…." _She stuttered finally.

"_If you're going to use the word "nice" now, I think I have to hurt myself."_He grinned saucily. _"The last time a girl used the term "nice" after I had kissed her, was in my teens. And I'm sure it wasn't a compliment back then."_He patted her knee, when she giggled. He knew she had enjoyed the kiss.

"_I've got something for you. Wait right here."_ He walked across the room to the hall and dug in the deep pocket of his woolen coat.A little later he came back with a book, which he handed to her. He sat down once again. Chloe looked at the title.

"_A thousand baby names"_ it read. The choked sob that emanated from her mouth all of a sudden made him uneasy. He reached out to hold her hand.

"_It's too soon, isn't it?"_ She wordlessly shook her head. _"And you don't have a book like that already?"_ Same reaction. She wiped her face with her sleeve and cleared her throat.

"_I'm just emotional, sorry. Sometimes the hormones really get the best of me… Thank you for the book."_ With those words she pulled him into a hug and gave him a quick kiss.

"_You're welcome."_ He kissed the top of her head, and then leaned back a few inches to look her in the eye. _"There is one question I have to ask."_ He felt her stiffen immediately. _"You're not married, are you?"_

"_No."_ she answered plainly.

"_The father of the baby…"_ Matt began, not sure how to verbalize his thoughts.

She freed herself from his arms, and moved a little bit away from him.

"_I don't want to talk about him."_

"_Okay. You don't have to."_

He reached out for her and pulled her closer again. She sighed and leaned her cheek against his shirt. They sat there in silence for minutes.

"_Does that mean I can take you on another date?"_ Matt couldn't control his enthusiasm over the situation.

"_Is that what you want? Dating a woman, who's going to have the baby of another man?"_ she whispered.

He lowered his head to murmur into her ear. _"For now."_ And then he kissed her again.

His tone told her that she could have more if she just wanted. She only had to take it.

And maybe she would just do that.

* * *

Clark was waiting impatiently for the rest of the team to arrive. He glanced over to the others and sighed.

Since they had arrived, Oliver and Carter had been bickering the whole time, which strategy would be the best to defeat the Kandorians. Carter's version basically consisted of attacking first and thinking later, while Oliver thought it was best to do things the other way round.

Courtney was sprawled out on the orange couch and watched their exchange with quiet interest.

But then the dynamic of the dispute changed. Every minute they continued their quarrel, their voices became louder.

And when Carter suggested that the team's "secretary" had probably left because of their leader's lousy plans, something exploded inside Oliver's head.

He leapt over the table with a growl,taking the maps of the citywith him, which they had been brooding over.

Carter didn't see this reaction coming and was taken by surprise. Oliver managed to knock him down and landed a nasty blow on the other man's jaw, before he was thrown across the room and crashed hard into one of his bookcases. Every single shelf gave way under the force of the impact and buried Oliver underneath a flood of books.

Courtney gasped loudly and shot up from her seat. She threw Carter an angry look. _"Was that really necessary?"_ Then she hurried over to the heap of books and helped Oliver to free himself. Blood seeped from a cut on his forehead to the corner of his eye, where an edge of a hardcover had struck him.

Carter shrugged. _"He started it!"_

"_And I will finish it!"_Oliver staggered in his direction, getting ready for another attack.

Carter laughed. _"I'm waiting right here, green bean! Bring it on!"_

Courtney grabbed Oliver's arm and tried to hold him back. She wasn't strong enough to stop him, but Clark stepped in his way. "_ENOUGH!" _ he thundered. Then he turned to look at Carter and shot him an angry look. _"Both of you!"_

Oliver retreated to his bedroom and probably his en suite to nurse his wound and sulk, but not before he had given Carter the one finger only got an unnerved grunt as a reaction from the other man, because Clark was still eying them warningly.

"_Since when is Mr. Billionaire this hypersensitive?"_ Carter asked the others as soon as Oliver was out of earshot.

Clark just sighed exasperatedly, though he said nothing. Courtney wasn't as reserved as the man next to her. Instead shejust chose to speak up. _"Since he's in love with Chloe, you insensible idiot!"_ She inhaled deeply and a disbelieving expression appeared on her face. _"How can you be so blind?"_

A screeching sound indicated the arrival of the elevator. Dinah, AC and Victor had finally arrived.

"_Hey, what happened here?"_ AC asked as he noticed the chaos.

"_Oliver and Carter clashed!"_ Courtney explained. Dinah walked over and hugged the girl in greeting.

Then she eyed Carter suspiciously. _"What did they fight about this time?"_

He wanted to answer, but was interrupted by Clark. _"Chloe."_ he just said.

The response came back in unison. _"Ah…"_

"_Why the hell am I the last to learn about this?"_ Carter was irked and even a little ashamed that he had provoked Oliver.

Dinah drew up her eyebrows. _"Maybe because you like him so much?"_She asked back ironically.

Carter growled.

Clark harrumphed. _"Could we get to the point of this meeting?"_

Everybody murmured their approval.

Clark picked up the maps and began to delegate. He pointed in the direction of Oliver's room. _"Dinah, please get Oliver, we really need to begin!" _She pulled a face, but disappeared into the bedroom. She had already had her share of moody men during the last days, she didn't need another one on top of the cake.

"_Victor, we need a connection to Watchtower's database and link us to the phone of John, he's the one on duty tonight!_

Victor nodded, pulled out his laptop and began to type eagerly.

"_AC, did you get the floor plans of the Luthor Mansion? - Good! - And Bart…- Where _is_ Bart?"_

AC still held out the prints to Clark. _"Bart won't be with us in the near future. He left the team, because we gave up searching. He was gutted."_

Clark sighed for the umpteenth time this day. _"Of course he was, but leaving the team is harsh. I respect Oliver's decision, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up hope that she comes back or that I won't follow any clue that might come up."_

AC nodded understandingly. _"I doubt Lois would ever let you, man!"_

Clark smiled tightly. _"Tell me about it!"_

AC looked over the dozens of rooms on the plan._"What do we need the floor plans for, anyway?"_

"_We need to know, what Zod is planning. And he set up camp at the mansion, after Tess went underground."_

"_I know that, but, what do you want us to do? Go in there and say "hi"?"_

"_He wants to check the house for unusual objects or anything else that's different."_ Oliver had appeared again with Dinah right behind him. He had a butterfly band aid on his eyebrow and a bump was beginning to form. He walked into the kitchen and came back with an ice pack, which he pressed onto the wound. He grinned at AC. _"Do me a favor and don't stay underwater that long anymore. It obviously affects your brain, fish stick!"_

Carter strode over to Oliver's side and grumbled something into the other man's direction. For Clark it sounded like _"didn't know"_ and his super-sensitive ears even picked up a low _"sorry",_ but it was covered up quite quickly by a faked cough. Oliver's grin disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. _"Don't worry. It's just a cut. I'll get over it!"_ he said with a stony expression.

"_Good man!"_ Carter was obviously relieved that this farce seemed to be over. He clapped Oliver's shoulder in a friendly manner, but had miscalculated the power in his arm and Oliver stumbled a few steps forward under the blow.

Courtney and Dinah shot a warning glare at the older man, AC coughed to hide a laugh and Clark just rolled his eyes. Only Victor was oblivious to the whole scene, because he was busily scanning over the floor plans to find any abnormalities. He was in deep concentration and only reacted, when Oliver spoke up in a loud voice. _"Okay guys! Let's see what this creep has in store for us. Then we'll find a way to use it to our advantage. Zod won't know what hit him, when we're finished with him and his underlings."_

All the other team members looked surprised. Who would've thought that a little "butting heads" with Carter could lead to any other results than physical damage and aggression? Apparently it had also been the wake-up call Oliver had needed. Victor and AC shared a crooked smile. Finally, their leader was back.

* * *

Hope you liked it. I'm looking forward to your comments. Criticism is appreciated! ;)


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